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58th Congressl 
3d Session | 



Senate 



/Document 
\ No. 202 



Matthew Stanley Quay 



y Late a Senator from Pennsylvania) 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN THE 
SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



Third Session of the 
Fifty-eighth Congress 



Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1905 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Proceedings in the Senate 5 

Prayer by Rev. Edward Everett Hale 5 

Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 9 

Address of Mr. Scott, of West Virginia 47 

Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 52 

Address of Mr. McLaurin, of Mississippi 57 

Address of Mr. Hansbrough, of North Dakota 6o 

Address of Mr. Stewart, of Nevada 65 

Address of Mr. Dubois, of Idaho 69 

Address of Mr. Fairbanks, of Indiana 73 

Address of Mr. Foraker, of Ohio 77 

Address of Mr. Clark, of Wyoming 81 

Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 84 

Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia 9° 

Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 95 

Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri 103 

Address of Mr. INIorgan, of Alabama 109 

Address of Mr. Piatt, of New York "6 

• Address of Mr. Knox, of Pennsylvania 121 

Proceedings in the House ^^5 

Prayer by Rev. Henry N. Couden . 127 

Address of Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania 130 

Address of Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania I37 

Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio 142 

Address of Mr. Kline, of Pennsylvania I49 

Address of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania 156 

Address of Mr. Goulden, of New York 158 

Address of Mr. Smith, of Penn.sylvania 160 

Address of Mr. Rodey, of New Mexico 167 

Address of Mr. Hull, of Iowa ^73 

Address of Mr. Morrell, of Pennsylvania I75 

Address of Mr. Babcock, of Wisconsin 178 

Address of Mr. Bates, of Pennsylvania I79 

3 



Death of Senator Matthew S. Quay. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



Monday, Dcwmdcr ^, 1904. 

PRAYER. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, offered the fol- 
lowing prayer: 

Thou Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength. This is the first and greatest coniniandment, and 
the second is like unto it, namely, this: Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. 

Let us pray. 

Father, we thank Thee for so nuich. We thank Thee for 
life and health and strength, and that we are here together 
now, and, best of all, that Thou art with us to give us new 
life, to give us new health, to give us new strength, to 
guide us and help us wherever we go and whereever we are. 

Make this Thine own home, that we may find Thee always 
when we need Thy help, as always we do need it; that wher- 
ever we go we may go as the children of the living God, ready 
to do Thy work, that we may live to Thy glory. 

Father, Thou hast given Thy servants here so nuich to do. 
They have to spend these months in caring for the coming of 
Thy kingdom and for nothing less — that the nations of the 



6 Life and Character of Mattheiv S. Quay 

world ma}' be one, that the vStates may bear each others' bur- 
dens, each as the others' brethren, that for all sorts and con- 
ditions of men Thou shalt make Thy gospel known, each for 
all and all for each, for all races and all sects and creeds and 
communions, that all may join in the common service, as 
children working with their Father. Thou art with us; hear 
us and answer us. 

And we remember, Father, those whose faces we shall not 
see here ever again — Thy servants whom Thou hast lifted to 
higher service. They pray while we pray; they hope as we 
hope. Bind us together, those whom we see and those whom 
we do not see, in the great brotherhood of the children of the 
living God. We ask it and offer it in Christ Jesus. 

Join me in the L,ord's prayer: 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is done 
in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us 
our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For 
Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. 
Amen. 

DEATH OF SENATOR QUAY. 

Mr. Penrose. Mr. President, it is my sad duty to announce 
to the Senate the death of my late colleague, Matthew 
vStanley Quay, which occurred at his home in Beaver, Pa., 
on the 28th day of May last. 

I shall not at this moment take up the time of the Senate 
with any extended remarks touching his personal character 
and his public services, but will content myself with simply 
submitting the following resolutions, asking consideration for 
them after similar resolutions, which I understand the Senator 
from Massachusetts desires to submit, have been considered. 



Proceedings in tJic Se?iate 7 

At some more appropriate time I will ask the Senate to sus- 
pend its ordinary business in order that fitting tribute may be 
paid to the memory of my deceased colleague. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsyl- 
vania offers resolutions which will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep 
regret of the death of Hon. Matthew Stanley Qu.\y, late a Senator 
from the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That the Secretary connnunicate a copy of these resohitions 
to the House of Representatives. 

The resolutions were considered by unanimous consent, and 
unanimou.sly agreed to. 

Mr. Lodge. Mr. President, in behalf of the Senator from 
Pennsylvania and myself I now offer the following resolution, 
and ask for its immediate consideration. 

The President pro tempore. The resolution will be read. 

The resolution was read, as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the two 
Senators (Senator Quay and Senator Hoar) whose deaths have just been 
announced the Senate do now adjourn. 

The re.solution w-as considered b}' unanimous consent, and 
unanimou-sly agreed to. 

The Senate accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 12 minutes p. m.) 
adjourned until to-morrow, Tuesday, December 6, 1904, at 12 
o'clock meridian. 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES ON THE LATE SENATOR QUAY. 

Mr. Penrose. Mr. President, I give notice that on Satur- 
day, February 18, after the routine morning business, I shall 
present resolutions commemorative of the life, character, and 
public services of my late colleague, Hon. Matthew Stanley 
Quay. 



Life and Character of Matthew S. Qtiay 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 

Saturday, February i8, 190^. 

Mr. Penrose. Mr. President, in accordance with the notice 
which I have heretofore given to the Senate, I ask unanimous 
consent for the consideration of the resolutions which I submit. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Kean in the Chair). The 
Senator from Pennsylvania offers resolutions which will be 
read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow of the 
death of Hon. Matthew S. Quay, late a Senator from the State of 
Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased 
the business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his associates 
to pay proper tribute to his high character and distinguished public 
services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the 
House of Representatives. 

The resolutions were considered by unanimous consent, and 
unanimously agreed to. 



Address of Mr. Penrose., of Pennsylvania 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. President: In addressing you to-day I bear my last 
tribute to the memory of one with whom I held associations 
of peculiar intimacy, social, political, and official, for a period 
of about twent}^ years. Tested in many severe political con- 
tests, our relations were seldom marred by any disagreement, 
and never encountered an occasion to disturb our mutual 
confidence and regard. 

His character was complex, and his abilities so extraordi- 
nary as to be many times misunderstood. A fair estimate 
can not be made of him except with the perspective of time. 
He was a soldier with as brilliant a record for bravery as is 
contained in the history of the civil war; a scholar, with as 
broad a basis of culture and learning as was possessed b}^ 
any public man of his time in the United States; a states- 
man, ever true to the best principles of American patriotism; 
a political general whose battles will have places in political 
annals like those of Marlborough and Napoleon in the his- 
tories of military campaigns. 

Kindliness of manner, simplicity of speech, sympathy of 
feeling, were the ordinary traits of his character. He was 
remarkably unaffected and unpretentious. He was not above 
the common failings of humanity. He possessed remarkable 
serenity of mind. His ordinary attitude toward calumny was 
one of genuine indifference. He seldom harbored any bitter- 
ness, and was ever ready to be reconciled with those to whom 
he had been oppo.sed. He commanded the adherence of his 
followers by the confidence inspired of his courage and ability, 



lo Life and CJiaracter of Matt/ieza S. Quay 

and he was feared b}' his opponents, who recalled his many 
victories and his resourceful skill. 

He had rare discernment and judgment as to public senti- 
ment, and upon not a single occasion did he advocate a weak 
or un-American principle. His vote was almost invariably 
recorded on the right side of a question. Many of his most 
notable political acts were apparently done without consulta- 
tion with or knowledge on the part of his political associates. 
On these occasions he seemed to act with a sudden intuition, 
which seldom failed of successful vindication. He seemed to 
take in at a glance the weak point in the enemy's lines, and 
to know with intuition amounting to military genius the point 
to which to direct his attack. 

Frequentl}' himself the subject of attack he never failed at 
the proper time to assume the aggressive. He did not deal in 
lofty pretensions, but few men were more careful not to per- 
form any act that would redound to the discredit of his country. 

He had absolute confidence in the people of Pennsylvania, 
and never feared to appeal to them boldly and directly, some- 
times against what seemed great political odds. Frequently 
he was apparently ready to step from the field to enjoy the 
rest he professed so earnestly to desire, but fresh assaults 
drove him again nito the battle. Few active lives extended 
over a greater space of time than his, and none included such 
constant struggle, .so many cases in which victory was snatched 
from defeat, and ill fortune conquered by the genius of political 
generalship than his. His political career extended over a 
period of forty-five years, beginning with his election to a 
county office in Beaver. After his military service was over 
his career became identical with the political history of Penn- 
sylvania, and for the greater part of the time he was the cen- 
tral figure in the contests which have controlled the State. 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania n 

No public man in the history of American pohtics was so 
much the subject of unbridled, malevolent, partisan, and 
ignorant abuse and misrepresentation. Proper criticism of 
public men is to be invited and encouraged and not decried, 
but in his case criticism overshot the mark. Unjust and 
baseless calumny and detraction only excited the generous 
indignation of his friends and strengthened the adherence 
and determination of his party followers; while the public 
mind, made callous by indiscriminate abuse, gave deaf ear 
even when appeals were made in matters often of legitimate 
discussion and criticism. 

In perhaps the darkest crisis of his long and often stormy 
political career, by a courageous and aggressive movement 
he struck the center of the opposition forces, and was elected 
treasurer of the State. After his second election to the Sen- 
ate, at a time of life when most men seek merited repose 
and enjoyment of achievement, he entered upon one of the 
most prolonged and hard-fought struggles in the political 
annals of Pennsylvania or any other State. After his re- 
election for the third time to the Senate there was hardly a 
voice raised in the State against his political leadership. 
Had he lived there would hardly have been a semblance of a 
contest on the question of his reelection by the present 

legislature. 

He passed away, having, after unparalleled struggles, 
achieved complete success, having reached the age of three 
score and ten, with his leadership admitted by all and main- 
tained by the general assent of his party. 

Mr. Quay was born in Dillsburg. York County, Pa., Sep- 
tember 30, 1833, and was of Scotch-Irish extraction. He 
was the son of Rev. Anderson Beaton and Catherine (Mc- 
Cain) Quay, and he was named after Gen. Matthew Stanley, 



12 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

of Branclywine Manor, Chester County. The Rev. Anderson 
Beaton Quay was eminent as a Presbyterian clergyman, both 
in eastern and western Pennsylvania. Joseph Quay, father 
of the Rev. Anderson B. Quay, married Asenath Anderson 
and resided in what is now Schuylkill Township, Chester 
County, Pa.; and in this township Patrick Anderson, father 
of Mrs. Asenath Quay, was the first child to have its nativity. 
Patrick Anderson was a captain in the old French and Indian 
war, and on the outbreak of the Revolution was, with An- 
thony Wayne, a member of the Chester County committee. 
In 1776 he entered into active service as captain of the first 
company mustered into the Pennsylvania musketry battalion, 
and after the battle of Long Island, in which Colonel Attee 
was captured and Lieutenant-Colonel Perry killed, he became 
its commander. In 1778 and 1779 he .sat in the Pennsyl- 
vania assembly, and his son, Isaac Anderson, represented the 
same district in Congress from 1803 to 1807. James Ander- 
son, father of Col. Patrick Anderson, came from Isle of Syke 
in 17 1 3, settled in Pennsylvania, and there married Elizabeth 
Jerman, daughter of Thomas Jerman, a famous Quaker 
preacher, who, with his wife, Elizabeth, came from Wales 
and settled in the Chester Valley in Pennsylvania about the 
year 1700, and erected one of the earliest mills in the province. 
It has been observed that it was a great source of strength 
for Mr. Quay that through his ancestry and in his own life 
work he was thoroughly identified with the people of Penn- 
sylvania, and had participated in all their trials and strug- 
gles. He was imbued with a sincere faith in the merit of 
their achievements, and understanding their wishes and char- 
acteristics, was pecuHarly fitted to represent them. He had 
much pride and interest in his ancestry, and boasted of his 
pure Pennsylvania stock. It is doubtful whether he had 



Address of Mr. Pcniosc, of Pennsylvania 13 

ever addressed a public audience until October i, 1900, when 
he made the opening speech at Westchester. Pa., in a remark- 
able speech-making canvass incident to his candidacy for elec- 
tion to the Senate, in which he declared: 

I may claim kinship ^vith you, for my parents, grandparents, great- 
grandparents, and great-great-grandpfirents were of your people. My 
great-grandfather was the first white child born in Charlestown Township 
and commanded detachments of your troops in the Colonial and Revolu- 
tionary wars. His mother was the daughter of Thomas Jerman, the 
Quaker preacher in the Chester Valley. His wife, my great-grandmother, 
was the sister of Col. John Beaton, who was chairman of your committee 
of safety in Revolutionary times. The half-brother of my grandmother 
represented this district in Congress in 1803, so that I might use here the 
jungle call of Mowgli in Kipling's romance: "We are of one blood, ye 
and I." 

And again, in one of the closing speeches of the same 
campaign at Phoenixville, on October 27, 1900, he declares: 

It gives me great pleasure to meet my fellow-citizens of Phoenixville. 
It is, in a measure, a home-coming. Only 2 or 3 miles hence, some of my 
ancestors came out of the ground a couple of centuries ago. It was so long 
ago that the red Indians had still their village here. The story goes that 
my great-great-grandmother, when she went to meet her father, a Quaker 
preacher over in the Chester Valley, left her babe, my great-grandfather, 
Patrick Anderson, in charge of the Indian squaws. I would suggest that 
from this suckling came my total depravity were it not that my relative, 
Mr. Anderson, who lives on the property his ancestors owned in 1712, 
might object. 

He was brought to western Pennsylvania as a boy in 1S40, 
his father having been selected as the pastor of a strong and 
influential congregation of Presbyterians in Indiana County. 
Pa. He remained at that place for upward of ten years, and 
here the young man got his academic education, being a class- 
mate of the late Judge Silas M. Clark, of the supreme court of 
Pennsylvania. From Indiana County the Rev. Mr. Quay 
moved to Beaver, Pa., which was the home of his son. Senator 
Quay, for nearly fifty years. 



14 Life and Character of Matthew S. Qitay 

After being thoroughly prepared, he entered Washington and 
Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Washington County, from 
which institution of learning he was graduated with distinction 
at the early age of 17 years. In 1850 he commenced the study 
of law in Pittsburg, in the office of Penney & Sterrett, a promi- 
nent legal firm, of whom the junior partner later became famous 
as a judge in Allegheny County and as a member and chief 
justice of the supreme court of the State of Pennsylvania. But 
before he had completed his legal studies Mr. Quay became 
desirous of traveling, and accompanied a college friend to his 
home in Mississippi. After a sojourn of two years in that 
State, and in Louisiana and Texas, during which time he taught 
school, lectured, and acquired much valuable information, he 
returned to his home in Beaver, where the impress of his strong 
will and well-balanced mind was soon made, not only upon the 
politics of his county, but on that of the whole State. Imme- 
diately after his return Mr. Quay resumed his legal studies 
with R. P. Roberts, afterwards colonel of the One hundred and 
fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, who was killed at Gettysburg. 
In 1854 he was admitted to the Beaver bar; in 1S55 he was 
appointed prothonotary of Beaver County; in 1856 he was 
elected to the same office, and reelected in 1859. In 1861, 
moved by the same patriotic spirit that possessed so many 
young men, he resigned his office to accept a lieutenancy in 
the Pennsylvania Reserves, then organizing for service. 
While his regiment was awaiting at Camp Wright the call to 
the front, he was summoned to Harrisburg and made assi.stant 
commissary-general of the State, with the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel. It was here that his capacity for organization, his 
energy, and his rigid and exact attention to details soon 
attracted the attention of the authorities, and upon the trans- 
fer of the commissary department to Washington, Governor 



Address of Mr. Penrose^ of Pciuisylvania 1 5 

Curtin appointed him his private secretary. The niihtary staff 
of the governor having been dispensed with about that time, 
the duties of these offices, together with the then enormous 
correspondence of the executive office, devolved upon the 
private secretary, all of which were diligently and method- 
ically performed. 

In August, 1862, Colonel Quay w^as .selected to command 
the One hundred and thirty-fourth Regiment, Penn.sylvania 
Volunteers, nine months' .service, and continued to fill that 
position until prostrated and enfeebled by typhoid fever, after 
the battle of Antietam. Afterwards he was cho.sen l)y Go\'- 
ernor Curtin to attend to the delicate and responsible duties 
of State agent at Washington. His resignation as colonel of 
the One hundred and thirty-fourth, on account of physical 
disability, was accepted; but the acceptance arrived immedi- 
ately upon the eve of the battle of Fredericksburg, December 
13, 1862, and into the fight he accompanied his regiment as 
a volunteer, eliciting by his conduct a complimentary mention 
in general orders and receiving from Congress the medal of 
honor for gallantry- on the field. He fulfilled with great credit 
all that was required of him as State agent, the duties of his 
place being exacting and arduous, as Pennsylvania was a 
border State, the .seat of w^ar, and subject to its ravages. The 
legislature, in 1863, in order to meet the urgent needs of the 
service, created the office of military .secretary, and Governor 
Curtin, remembering the valuable .services of Iiis former private 
secretary, immediately recalled him and a.s.signed him to the 
newly created post. Upon the death of Col. W. \V. Sees, 
superintendent of transportation and telegraph, the duties of 
that office were also transferred to him. 

Holding these important and confidential relations to the 
governor until 1865, he resigned them to take his seat in the 



1 6 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

legislature, to which he was elected in 1864, to represent the 
district of Washington and Beaver counties, and was reelected 
in 1865 and 1866. In this body he was made chairman of the 
committee on ways and means, and among the many impor- 
tant measures reported and passed during the winter of 1867 
which bore his stamp was the act relieving real estate from 
taxation. In 1867 the Republican party was divided into two 
factions on the question of the United States Senatorship, 
one supporting ex-Governor Curtin, the other Simon Cameron. 
Cameron opposed Colonel Quay, who was a candidate for 
speaker of the house, and finally succeeded in defeating him 
by defection from the Curtin forces. 

No act of Mr. Quay's early political career has been so much 
misunderstood and criticised as his action in this speakership 
contest, and he has been charged by his opponents with a base 
betrayal of Curtin for his own personal aggrandizement. There 
is as little foundation for charges of this character in this inci- 
dent as there is in nearly all of the similar accusations made 
against him during his long career. It is the universal testi- 
mony of those active in that notable contest upon each side, 
who are now living and able to give testimony, that Mr. 
Quay's course in this matter was straightforward and honor- 
able. Senator J. Donald Cameron, who was in charge of the 
opposition to Mr. Quay at the time, has frequently explained 
to me the details of the contest, and Col. A. K. McClure, who 
sat with vSenator Quay as a delegate in the State convention of 
the preceding year that nominated General Geary for governor, 
has written as follows : 

President Johnson was then shaping his departure from the Republican 
party, but he had three years of patronage in his hands and many of the 
Republican leaders were unwilling to cut themselves off. * * * The 
elder Cameron was then an important political factor and leader of the fac- 
tion opposed to Curtin. He maintained relations with President Johnson 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 17 

sufficiently close to control most of the important appointments of the 
vState, and the first question presented when the convention met was the 
proposition from Cameron to give some sort of indorsement to the Johnson 
Administration. A dozen or more prominent delegates opposed to that 
policy met in Quay's room the night before the convention convened. 
There was much feeling on the subject and the discussion was very greatly 
embittered. Quay was silent until most of those present had been heard, 
when he said, in his quiet way, " There is but one thing to do; give notice 
to those w^ho want the Administration of Johnson indorsed in this conven- 
tion that if it shall be done we will withdraw and hold a Republican con- 
vention and nominate a ticket." The suggestion was adopted, the notice 
was given, and that ended all idea of indorsing the National Administra- 
tion. Cameron practically had control of that convention for the first time 
since his battle with Curtin, and he forced the nomination of Geary. Quay 
sat with me in my room the night after the nomination until nearly day- 
light discussing the situation. He believed that the election of Geary 
would not only make Cameron master of the party in the State, but would 
utterly demoralize and practically destroy the Republican organization by 
making it either the apologist or the supporter of President Johnson. He 
was nothing if not heroic, and his proposition was that an open and defiant 
rebellion should be inaugurated because defeat at that time would be better 
for the Republican party than victory. * * * One of the .strange fea- 
tures of the political situation after the election of Geary and of a legisla- 
ture that was positively instructed for or pledged to Curtin was the fact 
that the political triumph so sincerely and earnestly deplored by Quay led 
to Quay's severance from the Curtin organization, whence he had steadily 
and logically gravitated into the Cameron fold. He was the Curtin can- 
didate for speaker of the House, and made a great battle for his election ii; 
a body that had a clear majority friendly to Curtin; but Cameron, who 
was a masterly manipulator, gathered the entire field of vSenatorial candi- 
dates against Curtin into a combination to defeat the Curtin candidate for 
speaker, as Quay's election would surely elect Curtin to the vSenate. The 
interest of local candidates for Senator, such as Stevens, Grow, Moore- 
head, and others, forced their delegations to aid in defeating Quay. 
* * * The contest was exceedingly bitter, and when Cameron * * * 
had attained the control of the Republican caucus he naturally feared that 
Curtin would bolt and might defeat Cameron by alliance with the Demo- 
crats. J. Donald Cameron, who succeeded his father in the Senate, was 
then active in the management of his father's political affairs, and he sent 
for Quay, assured him that there would be no ostracism of the Curtin 
people in the event of his father's election, and made such propositions 
for party unity as might induce Quay to prevent a bolt. Quay promptly 
reported the conversation to Curtin and myself. We all knew then that 
Curtin was defeated, and Curtin was emphatic in the declaration that he 

S. Doc. 202, 58-3 2 



1 8 Life and Oiaracter of Matthciv S. Quay 

would not allow himself to be involved in a bolting fight for the Senator- 
ship. Quay was then informed that he could not sacrifice any interest of 
Curtin; that he was entirely at liberty to act in harmony with Cameron if 
he thought it best. The result was that Quay agreed with Cameron that 
when the nomination of Cameron was accomplished in the caucus he would 
move that the nomination be made unanimous, and Representatives Davis 
and Ridgway and others who were prominent supporters of Curtin finally 
joined Quay in an agreement with Cameron to sustain the nomination 
when made, although all of them were sincere supporters of Curtin. The 
result was the election of Cameron and practicall}^ the end of Curtin's 
power as a Republican leader in the State. 

When Grant came into the Presidency he appointed Curtin 
to the Russian mission. With Curtin absent and Cameron 
in the Senate, the Curtin organization, once so powerftil in 
the State, gradually disintegrated, and the political control of 
the party in Pennsylvania passed into the hands of Cameron, 
with Quay as Cameron's chief lieutenant. Curtin remained 
in Russia until 1872, and before he had reached home he 
had publicly identified himself with the opposition to Grant's 
reelection, and logically drifted into the Liberal Republican 
movement, by which he was made its candidate at large for 
the constitutional convention, and adopted by the Democrats. 
Thereafter, however, until Curtin's death, Quay's personal 
friend.ship with Curtin was luiabated, and in 1878, when 
Curtin was defeated as the Democratic candidate for Congress 
and contested the election, Quay personally exerted all the 
power he could wield to aid Curtin in his contest. While 
Curtin and Cameron remained absoluteh' estranged, Quay 
held the position of trusted lieutenant of Cameron, but never 
was forgetful of the debt of gratitude he owed Curtin. 

In 1 868 the war of the factions was renewed, and the fol- 
lowing winter saw the anti-Cameron candidate elected vState 
treasurer. In 1869 the breach was healed, and Hon. John 
Scott was elected United States Senator and Robert W\ 
Mackey State treasurer. In 1869, Colonel Quay .started the 



Address of Mr. Penrose^ of Pennsylvania 19 

Beaver Radical, and issued the first number without a sub- 
scriber. This paper was conducted with rare abihty and soon 
fought its w^ay to a leading position among the journals of 
the State, and its opinions, which were quoted extensively, 
contributed largely toward shaping public sentiment. In the 
canvass which resulted in the election of General Hartranft 
as governor. Colonel Quay was his devoted and unswerving 
advocate, and exerted a powerful and controlling influence. 
Governor Hartranft appointed Colonel Quay secretary of the 
Commonwealth. In this position, which he filled from 1873 
to 1878, his experience in legislation, his great acquaintance, 
his know'ledge of the character of public men, and his quick 
observation and good judgment were of incalculable advantage 
to the administration. He resigned from the .secretarvship 
and was appointed recorder of Philadelphia, and this office 
he likewise resigned in January, 1879. In the meantime, as 
chairman of the State committee, he conducted the successful 
campaign of 1878, which resulted in the election of Governor 
Hoyt, who appointed him secretary of the Conunon wealth. 
He filled this position until October, 1882, when he resigned. 
In November, 1885, he w^as elected State treasurer by the 
largest majority given, up to that date, to a candidate for 
that office, resigning on August 24, 1887. On January 18, 
1887, he was elected United States Senator for the term ending 
March 3, 1893, ^^^ reelected at the expiration of his term. _^ 
Near the close of the legislature of 1895 it developed that a 
strong combination had been formed for the purpose of con- 
testing the leadership of Senator Quay in the Republican 
party of the State. Composing the combination were the 
governor of Pennsylvania, the mayor of Philadelphia, and the 
then leaders of the Republican organization in Philadelphia, 
the Republican organization in Pittsburg, and man)- jiotent 



20 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

corporate influences throughout the State. An effort was 
made to capture the Republican State organization by con- 
trolhng the convention of 1895. This was to be followed by 
the control of the State delegation to the national convention 
in 1896. It was late in June when the open rupture occurred. 
The combination announced that it would support Bank Com- 
missioner B. F. Gilkeson for State chairman. Senator Quay, 
in characteristic manner, joined issue and immediately an- 
nounced himself for chairman of the State committee in oppo- 
sition to Mr. Gilkeson. He took personal charge of the battle, 
which was waged until the convention in August, and when 
the convention met he had a safe majority of the delegates. 
The factional warfare continued with great bitterness until 
after the close of the legislature of 1901. In 1898 those who 
hoped to compass his defeat for reelection to the Senate with 
that end in view brought a prosecution on the charge of 
having conspired with other persons to use State funds for 
private purposes. After full trial he was acquitted. Before 
the conclusion of the trial the Pennsylvania legislature of 1899 
had adjourned without accomplishing a Senatorial election. 

Senator Quay's second term in the Senate expired on March 
3, 1899. The legislature of Pennsylvania met on the first 
Tuesday of January of the same year. In joint caucus several 
candidates were voted for, but Senator Quay received 98 out 
of the 109 Republican votes present, and was unanimously 
declared the caucus nominee of the Republican party. The 
legislature proceeded to ballot for a United States Senator on 
the third Tuesday of January, 1899, and continued to ballot 
each day until the legislature adjourned on the 20th day of 
April, as required by a resolution of adjournment. None of 
the candidates recei\-ed a majority of the votes cast, and no 
election resulted. On the first ballot taken in the joint 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 2i 

assembly, Quay, Republican, received 112 votes; Jenks, Demo- 
crat, 84; leaving scattering and absent, 52. On account of 
members and senators absent and not sworn in, it required 125 
votes to make the majority necessar}^ to elect. Seventy-nine 
ballots were taken when the legislature adjourned sine die, 
and on the following day, the legislature having adjourned 
and a vacancy in the ofhce of United States Senator existing 
by reason of the failure of the legislature to elect, the governor 
of Pennsylvania, believing that the State was entitled to full 
representation in the Senate, appointed Mr. Quay to fill the 
vacancy until the next meeting of the legislature. The 
validitj' of this appointment was called into question in the 
Senate and passed upon adversely by a majorit}' of one. 

The facts in the case and the questions involved are of too 
recent a character to require more than reference. The ques- 
tion at issue was purely one of constitutional interpretation, 
" Was this a legal appointment?" or, in other words, the ques- 
tion was, ' ' Can a vacancy which is caused b}^ the expiration of 
a Senatorial term, and which takes place during the session of 
the legislature, be filled by executive appointment?" The de- 
termination of the question depends entireh' upon the construc- 
tion of the brief and concise provisions in the Constitution 
regarding the appointment of United States Senators. The 
question has been exhaustively di.scussed upon several occa- 
sions in this Senate. It has often been affected by partisanship 
and by the peculiar exigencies of particular cases. In the mass 
of technical and subtle refinements and distinctions to which 
the simple words of the Constitution have been .subjected, the 
meaning of these words, to a certain extent, seems to have 
become involved in obscurity and doubt; but the progressi\'e, 
common-sense interpretation of the question has become more 
and more predominant in .su.staining the validity of executive 



2 2 Life and Character of Matthczv S. Quay 

appointments to fill senatorial vacancies whenever a vacancy 

may occur. 

The development of interpretation of the Constitution on 
this point is marked by the evolution out of contracted and 
illiberal construction of the clause. It was originally con- 
tended that the governor could not appoint to fill a vacancy 
happening at the beginning of a Senatorial term. The word 
' ' happen ' ' was construed to mean a vacancy happening in a 
term after that very term had once been filled. This old and 
prevalent contention has been outgrown. Then it was con- 
tended that the limitation was such that no appointment could 
be made by a governor in anticipation of a vacancy. In other 
words, the governor of a State, undertaking to exercise the 
power of appointment, must wait until the vacancy actually 
happened. No matter how certain the vacancy might be, no 
matter how sure the governor might be that the vacancy 
would exist on a particular day, with no possibihty of filling 
it by means of the legislature, nevertheless, he could not make 
the appointment, but must wait until the vacancy actually 
happened, and then make the appointment at the seat of gov- 
ernment of his State, and let the place remain vacant until 
the appointee could reach Washington. 

Then the limitation was set up, which was involved in the 
Quay case, that the executive power could not be exerted where 
the legislature of the State had had an opportunity to fill the 
vacancy, and had failed from any cause to do it. Finally, a 
fourth limitation has been contended for, which, I believe, has 
never been passed upon by this body, but which should be rele- 
gated to the oblivion of the earlier contentions, that after the 
governor had once made an appointment his appointee could 
only hold his office until the next meeting of the legislature, and 
if the legislature failed to elect, the governor could not make a 



Address of Mr. Penrose^ of Pennsylvania 23 

second appointment. The progress made in the precedents of 
the Senate in respect of the interpretation of the clause of the 
Constitution relating to the appointment and election of Sena- 
tors is such as to warrant the belief that ultimately this body 
will come to the logical and consistent conclusion contended for 
in the Quay case. The contest has been a long one against a 
spirit- of narrowness, technicality, and interested partisanship. 
The interpretation of every word in the provisions of the Con- 
stitution concerning Senators has exhibited a progressive tend- 
ency toward liberality, in order that the evident purpose of the 
Constitution might be carried out, that the Senate should be 
kept filled. The contention made by those opposed to the seat- 
ing of Senator Quay, that a governor could not appoint when 
the legislature had had an opportunity to elect, or after having 
once appointed, that power is exhausted, are two of the last 
places left for those who, by a curious persistency, desire to 
hamper the full representation of States in this Senate. It is 
reasonable to believe that the ultimate decision of this bod}- 
will be to complete the progressive constitutional interpretation, 
and will recognize the intention of the Constitution to create a 
Senate, and, as a consequence, to have that Senate filled, and to 
have the Senate filled by elections by legislatures for full terms, 
or remainder of terms, and by temporar}' appointments by 
governors where there are vacancies existing in the recess of 
the legislature. 

The power of temporary appointment by the governor is as 
little capable of exhaustion as is the power of election on the 
part of the legislature. The governor can appoint as often as 
vacancies exist, just as the President can fill vacancies in the 
offices of the Government. The Constitution has provided two 
methods of equal authority under which the Senatorial office can 
under every circumstance be kept filled. The proposition that 



24 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

the Constitution provides for the election of Senators for a term, 
or for the remainder of a term, and for the temporary appoint- 
ment of Senators in case of vacancies until the legislature meets, 
is simple and direct. On the other hand, any proposition which 
involves any limitations arbitrarily set up, based upon refine- 
ment and technicality, upon the right of the executive to 
appoint, involves the question in confusion and obscurity. 
More than this, it has been the chief reason why so many of 
these cases are valueless as precedents, because they have been 
open to the charge of having been decided upon partisan or 
factional lines. The moment we attempt to define and to 
restrict and to limit the executive power of temporary appoint- 
ment to fill vacancies, we open the door for discrimination and 
distinction in each particular case. These cases of executive 
appointment will never be settled in this vSenate until they are 
settled upon the plain, common-sense principle of recogniz- 
ing the right of the State to be represented, the paramount 
purpose of the Constitution to keep the Senate full, and the 
power of the legislature and the governor, in their respective 
spheres, to contribute to that end. Until that is done these 
cases will always be involved in partisan and personal con- 
siderations. They will be subject to the same influences of 
party and personal motives as are found in the decisions 
of contested election cases in all parliamentary bodies. 

In the case of Senator Quay it could not be contended 
that the will of the people was not fairly expressed by the 
appointment of the governor of the State. The people of 
Pennsylvania sustained with increasing majorities the regular 
organization of the Republican party which was represented 
in the legislature of 1899 by the Republican caucus, which 
unanimously nominated Mr. Quay for the Senate. In 1897 
the Republican candidate for State treasurer, after a campaign 



Address of Mr. Poirosc, of Ponisylvariia 25 

in which the administration of the State t'-easun- had been 
directl}^ and vigorously attacked, received 372,448 votes, and 
the Democratic candidate 242,731, making the Republican 
candidate's plurality 129,717. The vote for the Democratic 
candidate and all other candidates for State treasurer opposed 
to the Republican candidate was 421,517, making a popular 
majority over the Republican candidate of 49,069. It will be 
observed that in this election of 1S97, while the Republican 
candidate polled an enormous plurality, he failed to poll a 
majority of all the votes cast. In the following election, in 
November, 1898, the Republican candidate for governor re- 
ceived 476,206 votes, the Democratic candidate 358,300 votes, 
giving the Republican candidate a plurality of 1 17,906 votes. 
The vote for the Democratic candidate and all other candi- 
dates opposed to the Republican candidate for governor was 
495.509 votes, making the popular majority against the Re- 
publican candidate, notwithstanding his enormous plurality, 
19,303 votes. While the leading candidate failed to poll a 
majority of the whole vote, the majority against him of all 
candidates was actually 30,000 votes less than that for State 
treasurer in the preceding campaign. In the election of 1899, 
a State treasurer was elected. The Republican candidate ran 
upon a platform which contained an emphatic indorsement of 
Mr. Quay, and declared that — 

Our State is entitled to full representation in the United States vSenate, 
and we indorse the action of the governor in making his appointment to 
fill a vacancy caused by the failure of the last legislature to elect. 

Upon the question of the adoption of the platform in the 
State convention containing this emphatic indorsement the 
vote had been 192 to 49, indicating a practical unanimity in 
the convention. The campaign involved the attacks upon the 
management of affairs by the Republican party, which had 



26 Life and Character of Matthezv S. Quay 

been vigorously made in the two preceding campaigns, and, 
in addition, the issue was squarely fought out upon this 
plank in the platform as to the indorsement of Mr. Quay. 
The vote for the Repubhcan candidate for State treasurer 
elected in November, 1899, was 438,000 votes. The vote for 
the Democratic candidate was 327,512, making the Repub- 
lican candidate's plurahty 110,488 votes. The vote for the 
Democratic candidate and all other candidates opposed to the 
Republican candidate was 342,488, thus giving the Repub- 
lican candidate an actual majority of all the votes cast of 
85,512 votes. 

In the two preceding campaigns, with enormous pluralities, 
the candidates of the Republican party failed to poll an actual 
majority. Now, with the issue fairly made upon a candidate 
for State treasurer, with the added issue, made the leading 
feature of the campaign upon Mr. Quay, and the plank in the 
platform of the Republican party indorsing his appointment, in 
an off year, with every opportunity for party dissatisfaction and 
reaction, after three years of agitation and unlimited opportuni- 
ties for publicity, the final result was the polling of an enormous 
actual majority for the Republican party and an indorsement of 
the Republican platform with the plank indorsing the appoint- 
ment by the governor. One of the most striking features of 
the results in the election following upon the adjournment of 
the legislature, is the fact that in the counties of Pennsylvania 
whence had come the bolting Republicans the candidate for 
State treasurer received enormous gains. Thus was demon- 
strated the fact that the governor of Pennsylvania, in making 
this appointment, having a due regard for his responsibility to 
the people of the State, was sustained by them, and that he 
acted in accord with the sentiment of the great majority of the 
people of the State. 



Address of Mr. Poirosc.^ of Ponisyliuiiiia 27 

Senator Quay was made chairman of the Repubhcan National 
Committee without his consent and entirely without his knowl- 
edge. He was placed at the head of the committee because of 
his worth as a political general, although he had not been an 
original supporter of Harrison. In March, 1888, Mr. Quay, 
after looking over the field, declared himself for Senator John 
vSherman, of Ohio, for the Presidential nomination; and he was 
supported by the Pennsylvania delegation, with but few excep- 
tions. It was charged at the time by some of his opponents 
that he had risked his future upon the .selection of vSherman; 
that he desired to be chairman of the national committee, and 
that he would win or lose by the decision of the Chicago con- 
vention. And yet it is very well known to those who were in 
his confidence that he had no desire whate\-er for that office. 
Speaking to a close personal friend in the spring of that con- 
vention 5'ear, he said: 

It is a thankless task. If I should become chairman and lose the con- 
test I would be criticised by my own party. On the other hand, should I 
win, I would be the object of villification by the Democrats. But bej-ond 
all that, man's ingratitude to man would a.ssert itself. The Democrats 
would be so incensed that they would go to any extreme in their hostility, 
and there would be those in my own party who would join them. I do 
not want the office. 

When we recall the tmparalleled personal attack to which 
Senator Quay was subject from the time of his assuming the 
duties of the chairmanship of the national committee until the 
time of his death, his words are prophetic. It is unnecessary 
at this time to recall the details of that great contest. It will 
be sufficient now to record the resolution passed hy the mem- 
bers of the Republican National Committee relative to Mr. 
Quay's services, as follows: 

Resolved, That we accept against our own judgment, and with much 
doubt as to the wisdom and expediency of it for the party's interest, the 
action of Senator Quay in his resignation as chairman and member of the 



28 Life and Character of Matthezv S. Quay 

national committee. In submitting to it, with so much of reluctance and 
personal regret, we desire to express from our own knowledge of the facts 
of his preeminent service to the party our sense of the deep obligation 
under which he has placed the Republican party and the cause of good 
government and patriotism in the United States. He undertook the lead- 
ership of a doubtful contest at a time when the Republican party was dis- 
heartened and the Democratic party confident in the power of supreme 
control in the government and the nation, and when the odds of the con- 
test were against our party, and by his matchless power, his unequaled 
skill in resources, and his genius to command victory won for his party 
an unprecedented victory in the face of expected defeat. We know, as no 
one else can know, that the contest which he waged was one of as much 
honor and fair methods as it was of invincible power and triumphant vic- 
tory, and that it was won largely by the power of his superior generalship 
and his unfailing strength as a political leader. In the great contest of 
1888, in the months of severe effort, and in the years of personal associa- 
tion with him since, we have learned to know the nobility of the man, 
and we desire in this conspicuous manner to place on public record for 
the present and for the future as an enduring answer to the partisan 
assaults of a defeated enemy, our testimony in appreciation of his public 
services and his personal worth. 

One of Senator Quay's great elements of strength in Penn- 
sylvania was the support of the old soldiers of the Union Army, 
who, better than anyone else, recognized the true soldier with 
a gallant record as distinguished from the pretender. The 
brilliancy of his military record was admitted by all. When 
McClellan fought the battle of Antietam, Colonel Quay's regi- 
ment was among the forces ordered to make forced marches to 
reenforce McClellan. After marching all night until nearly day- 
break, he reached the rear of McClellan 's army the day after 
the battle. An eyewitness of Colonel Quay's gallantry at this 
time. Col. A. K. McClure, says: 

Quay, after marching all the night until nearly daybreak, reached the 
rear of McClellan's army the morning after the battle. I was on the 
battlefield during the conflict, and knew that these reinforcements were 
expected sometime during the night. Very early the next morning I 
started in search of Quay, and found him just finishing his breakfast, 
after having had a nap of an hour or two, in fatigue imiform and boots. 
He confidently expected and earnestly hoped that the action would be 
renewed and that the men he had very carefully disciplined would receive 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 29 

their first baptism of fire. They were placed in position at the front, but 
the entire day passed -without a single hostile shot, and Uiat night Lee 
made his escape across the Potomac. He continued with his command 
until McClellan reached Warrenton, when Burnside was appointed to suc- 
ceed him as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Just before Burn- 
side made his movement toward Fredericksburg Governor Curtin h:id 
decided that Quay must resign his conmiission as colonel, that was then 
within a few months of completion, as he connnanded a nine months' 
regiment, to accept the very important office of military State agent at 
Washington. 

The incumbent of that office had proved unsatisfactory, and as all the 
complaints and requests of the Pennsylvania soldiers relating to furloughs 
and other matters were personally attended to by the State agent, who 
had the entree to all the Departments of the Government, Governor Curtin 
regarded it as one of the most important positions he had to fill. Quay 
earnestly protested against being withdrawn from his connnand when it 
was the first time he had prospect of a battle, but Curtin was peremptory 
in requiring him to accept it as a matter of justice to our soldiers in the 
field. Quay then forwarded his resignation, stating the weasons for doing 
it, and the governor wrote to the War Department explaining that he had 
great need for Quay in another position and urging that his resignation 
be promptly accepted. Just when Burnside was approaching Fredericks- 
burg Quay received notice of the acceptance of his resignation and he was 
mustered out of service. Just then the paymaster came along and paid 
his regiment, and as Quay was about to return to the State the men of his 
regiment committed to his care some |8,ooo to take home to their families, 
and Quay had the money in large denominations placed in a belt that he 
wore hidden around his person. A battle soon followed. Quay was 
unwilling to leave, and he promptly volunteered to serve on the .staff of 
General Tyler, whose command made the bloody and fruitless charge up 
Mary's Heights. Tyler's command was, "Officers in front of your men, 
charge," and Quay was in the front line with the officers when that charge 
•was made and advanced as far as the farthest in the desperate and utterly 
hopeless struggle to reach the enemy's position. In his anxiety to par- 
ticipate in the battle he had forgotten that he had on his person a large 
amount of money belonging to the families of his soldiers, which he 
undoubtedly would have lost had he fallen in the fight, as did nearlv half 
of those who entered it with him.- * * * For his participation in that 
charge he was awarded the medal of honor, and no one of the many brave 
men who were thus rewarded wore the medal more justly. 

The tariff in Pennsylvania has always been the paramount 
issue. It has kept the State without faltering on a single occa- 
sion in the Republican column when national issues were 



30 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

involved. With her extensive domain and her boundless nat- 
ural resources, Pennsylvania is preeminently the beneficiary 
of the protective-tariff system. Senator Quay voiced the sen- 
timent of the people of Pennsylvania in his speech at Phoenix- 
ville, on October 27, 1900, when he said: 

Pennsylvania is honest. Her people are honest. Her officials are hon- 
est. And of all this union of States, Pennsylvania is the fairest and the 
happiest and the most intelligent and the best governed. No State of all 
the Union has so thriven and grovi-n in population and wealth as has she 
under the government of the last twenty-five years. Railroads, mines, 
furnaces, iron works, steel works, and factories in countless numbers have 
been added to our producers of wealth. Within four years, since 1896, 
450,000 men have been added to the roll of paid labor in Pennsylvania. 
If this union of States were dissolved, Pennsylvania could stand alone and 
be a nation unto herself. Out of her own bowels she could spin the web 
of her prosperity. She could place in the field and clothe, equip, and 
subsist an army of one-quarter of a million of men. She could build at 
her own shipyards her own navy, plate her ships from her own armor 
plants, arm them with guns from her own gun factories, and send them 
out on the Atlantic and the Great Lakes. In her industries she could levy 
tribute on all her sister States and almost all foreign countries. I am 
proud there is not a drop of blood in my veins that is not Pennsylvania 
blood two centuries' old. I thank God I am a Pennsylvanian. 

The vSchenck tariff bill was passed in the Fifty-first Congress. 
One of its leading features was the levying of a duty of $28 
per ton on steel rails, which duty built up our great steel-rail 
industry. The whole .scope and intention of the tariff act of 
1870 were most friendly to the American industries, and the 
consequences of this legislation were of inunense value and of 
far-reaching importance. The tariff act of 1870 definitely fixed 
the revenue policy of the Republican party in time of peace on 
protectionist lines, and it was a strong bulwark of defense for 
the industries of Pennsylvania and of the country during the 
trying years following the panic of 1873. It was in force with- 
out material change for thirteen years — until 1883— when it 
was succeeded by the tariff act of that year, a measure of pro- 
tection framed on the lines of the Schenck bill, but lacking in 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 31 

symmetry and bearing marks of haste on every page. In the 
meantime, however, there had been two important tariff debates 
in 1872 and 1873, and one vigorous attempt to repeal the whole 
legislation of 1870. The Wood tariff bill of 1878 gave the 
manufacturers of the country great anxiety, but after a long 
discussion it was defeated upon the motion of General Butler 
to strike out the enacting clause, the vote being 134 yeas to 
121 nays, 19 Democrats voting to strike out. Hon. Samuel J. 
Randall, of Pennsylvania, was Speaker of the House at the 
time. A determined effort to reduce the steel-rail duty to 
$10 per ton was made in 1880, through the Covert bill, but this 
measure was beaten in the Ways and Means Committee. That 
was a critical time for our steel-rail industry. 

Soon after the passage of the tariff act of 1883, a vigorous 
agitation was begun for its repeal. In 1884, Mr. Morrison 
introduced in the House his "horizontal reduction" tariff 
bill, which led to a long debate, resulting in the defeat of 
the bill upon the motion of Mr. Converse (Democrat) to 
strike out the enacting clause, Mr. Randall and 39 other 
Democrats voting with Mr. Converse. The House was Dem- 
ocratic by a large majority. The vote was 159 to strike out 
and 155 to sustain the bill. In November of that year Mr. 
Cleveland was elected to the Presidency. In his first annual 
message to Congress, in December, 1885, he recommended a 
general reduction of duties; and early in 1886, INIr. Morrison 
introduced another bill to revi.se and reduce the tariff. This 
bill was also defeated, the House, which was again Demo- 
cratic by a large majority, refusing even to con.sider it, the 
vote being 140 yeas to 157 nays, Mr. Randall and 34 other 
Democrats voting to kill the bill. For this reason Mr. Cleve- 
land never forgave Mr. Randall. In his next annual message, 
in December, 1886, Mr. Cleveland again recommended a 



32 Life and Character of Matthew S. Qitay 

reduction of duties, and in the same month Mr. Morrison again 
brought forward his tariff bill of the preceding long session, 
but Congress again refused to consider it, the vote being 149 
yeas to 154 nays, Mr. Randall and 25 other Democrats voting 
in the negative. That was the virtual end of tariff agitation 
in that Congress. 

But Mr. Cleveland adhered to his determination, and in his 
annual message, in December, 1887, he again recommended a 
reduction of duties. His message marked a more radical 
advance by Mr. Cleveland toward free trade than any of his 
previous utterances on the tariff question and it alarmed the 
country. In January, 1888, Mr. Mills, of Texas, became the 
chairman of the new Ways and Means Committee, the House 
again being Democratic, and on March i he submitted his 
now famous tariff bill. Before a final vote upon its merits 
had been taken, Mr., Cleveland was nominated at St. Louis, 
in June, for a second term, upon a platform specifically in- 
dorsing the Mills bill. In the same month General Harrison 
was nominated in Chicago for the Presidency, upon a plat- 
form in which the Mills bill was indorsed by name. On July 
21 the Mills bill passed the House by a vote of 162 yeas to 
149 nays. Only four Democrats voted against it. Mr. Ran- 
dall would also have recorded his vote against the bill if he 
had not been too ill to be in his seat. In behalf of the 
Republican majority in the Senate, a substitute for the Mills 
bill was prepared and submitted. Both bills were fully dis- 
cussed in the Senate, on the stump, and in the newspapers 
during the remainder of the Presidential campaign. The" 
Senate substitute passed this body on January 22, 1889, by a 
vote of 32 yeas to 30 nays. It was never considered by the 
House. The Mills bill was, however, dead. In the mean- 
time Mr. Cleveland had been defeated for the Presidency 



Address of Mr. Penrose., of Pennsylvania 33 

by a close vote, the principal issue being the tariff question 
as expressed in the two bills referred to. 

It was in this emergency, so fraught with important conse- 
quences to the industries of the country, that Senator Quay 
first took up his active work in upholding our protective policy. 
Soon after the nomination of General Harrison, in June, 1888, 
Senator Quay, who had entered the Senate in March, 1887, 
and whose reputation as a wise political manager had preceded 
him, was made chairman of the Republican National Commit- 
tee. The task set for him was the election of General Harrison 
and a Republican House of Representatives. He accomplished 
both of these objects. The country rang with his praises. 
Everybod}' conceded that without his skillful leadership the 
battle for protection would have been lost, for New York, the 
pivotal State, was carried for Harrison by only about 13,000 
plurality. If Mr. Cleveland and a Democratic House had been 
elected, the Mills bill would have been indorsed, and tariff agi- 
tation on free-trade lines would have continued. Mr. Cleve- 
land had already practically destroyed the protectionist senti- 
ment in his own part}', and Randall was on his deathbed. But 
Harrison's election, under Senator Quay's leadership, put an 
end for four years to all free-trade hopes. 

As a logical result of the Republican success in 1888, the 
House of Representatives, when it met in December, 1889, un- 
dertook the revision of the tariff of 1883 o^i the lines of the 
Senate substitute for the Mills bill. This revision subsequently 
became a law as the McKinley tariff bill. It pas.sed the House 
on May 21, i8go, by a vote of 164 yeas to 142 nays. It passed 
the Senate on September 10 by a vote of 40 yeas to 29 nays. 

The vSenate had made many changes in the McKinley bill, 
some of these changes materially reducing duties, but in the 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 3 



34 Life and Character of Matthezo S. Quay 

conference committee most of the original McKinley rates were 

restored. 

Of Senator Quay's services in this connection Mr. James M. 

Swank, of Philadelphia, editor and publisher of the Bulletin, 

a paper devoted to the American Iron and Steel Association, 

says: 

Both in the Senate and in the committee of conference Senator Quay's 
assistance was invaluable in securing^ the adoption of the rates of duty 
which were embraced in the McKinley bill as it passed the House. Apart 
from his lifelong devotion to the protective policy as it is understood in 
Pennsylvania, there was a special reason why Senator Quay should object 
to the reductions in the McKinley bill which had been strangely proposed 
by his Republican colleagues in the Senate. As chairman of the Repub- 
lican National Committee he had made the fight against Mr. Cleveland 
upon the basis of the Senate substitute for the Mills bill, and he had not 
forgotten the Republican party's promise to the country which was embod- 
ied in that substitute. His efforts to secure the retention of the original 
McKinley rates were in the main successful. 

Senator Quay's part in securing the substitution of higher 
rates of duty for hundreds of the practically free-trade provi- 
sions of the Wil-son tariff bill in 1894 is of too recent occurrence 
and is too well known to Senators to require more than a pass- 
ing reference at this time. 

The people of Pennsylvania, beyond tho.se of any other State, 
realize how often the protective policy has been in peril during 
the past twenty-five years, even in the house of its friends. 
They, beyond all others, know how prosperity has followed the 
enactment of protective legislation; how disaster and depression 
have ensued from repeal or modification, and how uncertainty 
and loss have invariably followed even agitation for revision or 
change. .The element of stabiHty is as important in a protect- 
ive tariff as is the adequacy of the schedules. Business can not 
be conducted prosperously where change in conditions is threat- 
ened. The people of Pennsylvania realize that the present sys- 
tem of protection to American industries embodied in the 



Address of Mr. Penrose^ of Pennsylvania 35 

Dingley bill is the successful result of long and often doubtful 
struggles. 

This policy has been maintained throughout this long period 
only by the hard and unselfish work of a few devoted friends 
in both branches of Congress. Penn.sylvania has good reason 
to remember with gratitude its faithful sons who have fought 
many hard battles that its industries might be saved from 
destroying hands. On more than one occa.sion the personal 
efforts of Kelley and Randall and Quay have saved the indus- 
tries of Pennsylvania. 

While Senator Quay was not generally recognized as a great 
public speaker, yet he demonstrated in his last campaign for 
the Senate that he possessed the qualities of real eloquence. 
He was a classic scholar, and when occasion demanded it he 
gave utterance to some of the best thought that has ever been 
spoken by Pennsylvaijia statesmen. He possessed one of the 
finest working libraries in the United States, and he was 
familiar with nearly every volume in it. It abounded most in 
works of history, and was especially rich in Americana, while 
including all the standard works of history and philo.sophy 
relating to the development of modern Europe. He was a 
student of military campaigns, and possessed many books and 
much knowledge relating to Napoleon. Of American history, 
not only in its military stages, but in its social and political 
development from the very earliest colonial times, he always 
was an ardent and appreciative student. In fact, it is doubtful 
whether there is anyone, even among tho.se who have devoted 
their lives to a study of the subject, who were more intimately 
acquainted with the details of American history than he. He 
was not especially fond of poetry, although in that branch 
of literature he was widely read. He had great admiration 
for the works of Sir Walter Scott, and of Whittier and of 



36 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Longfellow. Of the classic poets he admired Horace the most, 
and was ever ready to take up the works of Homer, \'irgil, 
Dante, Goethe, Schiller and Shakespeare. His religious beliefs 
seem to have been with him matters of deep, settled conviction, 
and he does not appear to have cared much for works of scien- 
tific or philosophical character. 

Mr. Quay's efforts in behalf of statehood for the Territories 
are too recent to require more than reference in this body. Not- 
withstanding the fact that he represented, in part, the second 
State of this Union in point of population, he entertained no 
apprehensions in his willingness to concede to these Territories 
equal representation with Pennsylvania in this body. He 
recognized the just demands of the inhabitants of these growing 
sections, many of whom were Pennsylvania people with large 
and growing interests in the Territories. He had an abiding 
confidence in the future of the Territories, and believed that 
with their magnificent climatic conditions and their almost 
unknown and unrealized natural resources, they possessed 
within themselves the splendid possibilities of becoming great 
Commonwealths, and were at the present time fully fitted to 
take their places in the American Union. 

^Ir. Quay took great pride in the fact that in his ancestry he 
counted Indian blood. In his later years his Indian ancestry 
was a matter of much investigation and interest with him. His 
ancestor, John Quay, it appears, came from the Isle of ]\Ian 
and located in Canada, where he married an Indian woman. 
He had a son, John Quay, jr., who also married an Indian 
woman. Senator Quay was the fifth generation from this mar- 
riage. As a result of his investigations and interest in his own 
Indian ancestry he came to take a great interest in the welfare 
of the Indians, and he was to them a valued friend. The 
Indians residing in the Indian Territory, and especially the 



Address of Mr, Penrose^ of Pennsylvania y] 

remnants of the once mighty and powerful tribe of Delawares, 
appreciate his many benevolent acts and will ever cherish his 
memory. 

The unfortunate experiences of the Delawares with the whites 
excited in Mr. Quay a lively sympathy. Familiar as he was 
with colonial and Indian history, he felt that in most of their 
dealings with the whites these people had been cheated. They 
lived near Philadelphia, and with them Mr. Thomas Penn made 
his famous ' ' walking purchase. ' ' A witness was produced to 
say that forty years before he had seen a treaty providing that 
the Delawares should give the English all the laud measured 
from a base line running up the Delaware River as far as a man 
could walk in a day. The Delawares held a council and finally 
agreed with the whites that they would fulfill this treaty which 
it was claimed the}- had executed. \Mien the day came for the 
execution of the treaty the whites had blazed the trail up the 
Delaware River, but instead of following the course of the 
river they struck a bee line inside of the river from one bend to 
another, and put men on horseback to help out their walkers, 
who turned out to be the fastest runners of the neighborhood, 
and so acquired about $6,000,000 worth of land from the 
Indians. The next year the whites called in the Iroquois. 
They were the overlords, and the whites and the Iroquois com- 
bined. The Delawares could not resist. They were ordered 
off. They went, not as a tribe, but as families, and night after 
night in the woods the little flames were seen, and in the morn- 
ing the houses and homes of the Delawares were found in 
ashes, and the families were gone. The men took their guns 
and the women their babies and ponies, and they left for the 
West. Family after family disappeared forever from their old 
haunts into the gorges of the Alleghenies. They went to Ohio 
and took part against the whites, and during the French and 



38 Life and Character of Matthezv S. Q2iay 

Indian war they were the most relentless and savage enemies 
we had. 

During the Revolution this special band, which is now in 
the Cherokee Nation, took the part of the United States. 
They first settled on the Muskingum. Their lands were 
bought from them there and they were told to move on, and 
the}^ moved on to White River, Indiana. Their lands were 
wanted there. They were crowded, and their advance parties 
then crossed to the regions which are beyond the Mississippi, 
which were under Spanish domination. The Spanish enlisted 
them in their service to fight the Osage and the Missouria 
Indians, and gave them a large tract of land below St. L,ouis, 
near Carondelet. The United States acquired Missouri and 
the Northwest Territory, and these Indians then moved on to 
Kansas. They .served in the Seminole w.ar, in the Mexican 
war, and in the war of the rebellion. In the war from 1861 to 
1865 every Delaware able to bear arms served in the Union 
Army. They subsequently sold their lands, passed through 
Kansas, and became Cherokee, and they are now in the 
Cherokee Nation. The romantic story of the migration of 
the once powerful Delawares across the continent appealed 
strongly to Mr. Quay, and he became their champion. 

In the winter of 1897-98, when negotiations were attempted 
between the Dawes Commission and the Cherokees, an effort 
was made to deprive the Delawares of much of the land which 
they thought they had purcha.sed, and which they had paid 
for in cash, under their agreement of 1867 with the Cherokees. 
An effort was made to determine their rights, and at least to 
secure the opportunity of trying them in the Court of Claims 
and the Supreme Court. They were without money and 
without friends at home and in Washington, and their con- 
dition was pitiful. After seeking the assistance of man}'^ 



Address of Mr. Penrose^ of Pennsylvania 39 

public men they finally appealed to Senator Quay for aid. He 
listened attentively to their story and then informed the repre- 
sentatives of the Indians that he was greatl)' interested in their 
case as his ancestors man}' generations before were of Indian 
blood. He stated to them that John Quay, an ancestor, had 
married an Indian girl of the Abenakas tribe, known as Wa 
Pa Nachki, a member of the eastern branch of the Delawares. 
From that time Mr. Quay continued a consistent, loyal, and 
.true friend of the Indians. He championed their cause before 
Congress and before the Departments, and secured just recog- 
nition, which could never have been obtained without his 
assistance. As a result of his efforts, in the case of the Dela- 
ware Indians, they secured the following property rights, 
without which the}- would have been reduced to poverty- and 
almost have become objects of charit}': The right to take their 
allotments where they had lived and where their homes had 
been in the rich valleys of the Cherokee Nation, instead of in 
the flint hills many miles distant on barren .soil; the right to 
institute suits in the Court of Claims in order to adjudicate 
judicially their claims against the Government; the appropria- 
tion of $150,000 by Congress in full settlement of all their 
claims against the United States; lastly, the right of the 
members of the tribe to dispo.se of their improvements upon 
surplus lands. 

Not only was Mr. Quay the .special friend of the Delawares, 
but he was also the friend of many other tribes. He rendered 
valuable assistance to the Sioux, the New York Indians, the 
Seminoles of Florida, the Nez Perces, and many others. His 
generosity is well known, and instances could be recounted 
almost without number where he gave pecuniary aid to mem- 
bers of tribes visiting Washington, his generous acts ncA'er, 
however, being mentioned b}- him. During a visit to Canada 



40 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

he caused to be constructed a chapel at the little Indian village 
called Pierreville Yanaishi, Quebec, Canada, as an evidence of 
his friendship for the eastern Delawares and of his ancestral 
relationship with that locality. 

In November, 1903, he gratified a desire he had often ex- 
pressed, to visit the Delaware people and attend their annual 
thanksgiving dance at Dewey, and was greatly impressed with 
their ceremonies. On this occasion Mr. Quay, who was recog- 
nized by the Delawares as an Indian, was elected war chief of 
the tribe, and as such he will ever be known by that people. 

In speaking of his visit on his return from the Indian Terri- 
tory, Senator Quay said that he had been through the war and 
had experienced many solemn occasions, and nothing had ever 
impressed him as being as solemn and sincere as the actions of 
the Delaware Indians at this dance, and that he felt as proud 
of the honors conferred upon him by the Delaware Indians as 
any office of honor he had ever held, and that this oflSce was 
bestowed upon him with sincerity and love, and without any 
effort or solicitation on his part. 

Regarding the calumny and detraction frequently leveled 
against him, as well as the Republican party, he gave charac- 
teristic expression on several occasions. In his Phoenixville 
speech he said of those possessed with such a distorted vision 
of public affairs: 

It originated in the political miseries and personal malice of disappointed 
men formerly members of the Republican party. The Democracy, hope- 
less of unaided success and utterly forgetful of the resulting demoraliza- 
tion to its organization, took them to its bosom, warmed their sickly vital- 
ity, and set them to work in its vineyard. 

I have large charity for disappointed ambition — 

"The blood will follow where the knife is driven, 
The flesh will quiver when the pincers tear," 

and the wounds but half heal, and sometimes gangrene. Then the blood 
is poisoned and the senses are numbed, and to the victim all nature seems 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 41 

changed. He looks at the world through smoked glass. He has evil 
dreams, and talks in his sleep. Hope deferred becomes hopelessness. He 
assumes a monkish austerity, announces himself as a man with a mission, 
purified in the crucible of adversity, with a God-given errand to inform 
the people of the evils from which they are ignorantly suffering and lead 
them to redress. Year after year, in instance after instance, this history 
repeats itself. 

Further on in the same speech Mr. Quay said: 
No patriotic citizen of any party can have any sympathy with that 
hypocrisy which finds it necessary for its own preference to smirch the 
fair fame of his State, nor with the malignity which can find in political 
conditions only rottenness on which to feed and over which to croak. 

In the same connection Senator Quay said, in a speech dehv- 
ered at Lewisburg in the same campaign: 

You can always measure the honesty and sincerity of a man by the 
assiduity with which he goes about the world traducing the honesty and 
sincerity of his fellow-men. * * * These are the men who make reform 
impossible. Reform is as natural as human progress, and the terms are 
synonymous, but when false apostles of reform erect altars where knaves 
liinister and fools kneel, as in Pennsylvania at present, progress and 
reform are alike retarded. 

Again, in his speech at Altoona, he said: 

Reform is a catching cry. It cozens alike babes, sucklings, and grown 
men. It is human to err and human to believe our fellow-men erring, and 
ourselves their God-appointed critics and guardians. Also, it is solacing 
to self-love and vanity to proclaim the shortcomings of the world, for this 
is in a manner an assertion of our superiority to common humanity and a 
parade of our perfection. We say to our fellows: "Behold, I am holier 

than thou." 

It is natural that there should be a desire for a monopoly of self-glorifi- 
cation, and, therefore, not surprising that I should be assailed for insin- 
cerity when in a mild way I make mention of measures that occur to me 
for the public good. I regret to interfere with the business of the profes- 
sional reformers, and apologize. 

He deprecated the fashion existing in many quarters to decry 
the malfeasance and abuses alleged to exist in Pennsylvania, 
and he had a just pride in the splendid record of the State in 
the legislation of which he had been a guiding and an active 
participant for so many years. 



42 Life and Character of Matthciv S. Quay 

Pennsylvania has always been preeminent in its provision for 
public education. The public school system was established 
early in the history of the State under the leadership of Thad- 
deus Stevens, and the State has with every year made increas- 
ing provision for the support and the betterment of public 
education. The constitution of the State requires that a mini- 
mum amount of $1,000,000 shall be annually appropriated for 
the support of the common schools. For many years this has 
been greatly exceeded, until at the present time the State of 
Pennsylvania appropriates more money for the support of the 
common schools, orphans' schools, the normal schools, the 
county superintendents, and the department of public instruc- 
tion, or, in other words, for educational purposes, than any 
other State in the Union in the actual amount, and a much 
larger percentage of the total revenue than any other State, 
over 41 per cent of the total revenues of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania being devoted to educational purposes. 

The tax system of Pennsylvania is looked upon by students of 
taxation and political economy as being a model system of State 
taxation. As the result of continued agitation in the State on 
the part of tax reformers and the various associations of gran- 
gers and other agricultural bodies, there has resulted legislative 
enactments which, with the judicial decisions which have settled 
their disputed points, extending over several years, have finally 
come to constitute a remarkable and highly satisfactory system 
of taxation and revenue. The burdens of State taxation have 
been entirely lifted from the shoulders of the individual and 
placed upon the corporations of the Commonwealth. There 
is a complete exemption of real estate from taxation for 
State purpo.ses, and the individual citizen in Pennsylvania is 
not called upon to contribute one penny to the support of the 
State government by any form of direct taxation, with the 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 43 

exception of the insignificant part, 2 per cent, of the State 
revenues raised by tax on money at interest. Moreover, a 
considerable part, nearly 90 per cent, of the taxes collected by 
the State are returned to the counties for local purposes, in 
order to relieve local taxation, so that there is not a single 
county in Pennsylvania save one— the county of Philadelphia— 
which does not get directly from the State treasury more money 
than the State collects from all its citizens by direct taxation, 
from all sources, and there are only two counties in the State- 
Allegheny and Philadelphia— which do not get back from the 
State treasury for common school purposes alone more money 
than their citizens pay into the State treasury. The largest 
excess of money repaid to counties goes naturally to the least 
wealthy counties, having the smallest proportion of property 
subject to State tax in relation to their population. The effect 
of this system is, of course, to lessen the burden of local taxa- 
tion in the counties the people of which are least able to bear 
such burdens. In other words, under the State tax laws 
enacted in Pennsylvania the corporations pay the entire 
expenses of carrying on the State government, and pay a very 
large amount in addition into the State treasury, which is 
returned to the counties for the sake of lightening local taxa- 
tion. No financial institution in this or any other country can 
show as good a record in the handling of vast sums of money 
as the treasury of the State of Pennsylvania. In the history 
of the management of the State finances the remarkable fact is 
exhibited that not one dollar has ever been lost to the State as 
the result of malfeasance in office, and not one penny has ever 
been lost for any other cause unless, perhaps, we except a 
small item of about $9,000, which, in 1840, became involved in 
litigation as the result of the failure of a bank depository desig- 
nated by act of assembly. Since 1873 over $25,000,000 of the 



\ 



44 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

State debt have been paid off, and, with the securities now in 

the sinking fund, the State of Pennsylvania is practically free 

of debt. 

Senator Quay said in his Phoenixville speech : 

In Pottstown the other .night the slogan was "good government." 
Pennsylvania was declared a misgoverned State and a debauched and 
plundered State. Good government is to take taxes from the shoulders of 
the ill-paid agricultural interests and place it upon corporations and own- 
ers of stocks and moneys at interest. Good government is to increase the 
annual school appropriation within ten years from one million to five mil- 
lions, and to stud our Commonwealth with institutions of learning. Good 
government is to pay a debt of forty millions of dollars in thirty years 
without oppressing our people, and, at the same time, to spend millions in 
the care of our criminal and insane populations, soldiers, orphans, schools 
and universities, and general public charities. Good government is to 
erect a citizen soldiery which can be thrown to any point in the Common- 
wealth to sustain outraged law at twenty-four hours' notice, and which 
can furnish 15,000 bayonets for the United States service on call. 

Mr. Quay was married in 1855 to Agnes Barclay, daughter 
of John Barclay, by his wife Elizabeth Shanner, her parents 
being native Pennsylvanians of Scotch-Irish extraction. He 
was survived by five children by this marriage. His home and 
his family called out his strongest affections. He possessed the 
loyal love of his children and received from his wife heroic 
devotion. 

In a speech at Altoona Senator Quay voiced his feelings dur- 
ing the last two years of his life when he said : 

It is a long time since I was first here, and many of your grand men I 
have known since then have gone to the land from which no traveler 
returns. * * * They have passed away, and among their successors I 
feel like a dying oak among healthy saplings. 

Mr. Quay said of himself in an address to the State League 

of Republican Clubs, delivered May 14, 1901 : 

At three score years and ten the world grows lonely. Through wilder- 
nesses, almost desolate, the stream of life glides darkly toward the eternal 
gulf. The associations of early existence are gone. Its objects are gained 



Address of Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania 45 

or lost, or faded \\\ inii)ortaiice, and there is a disconnection with ideas 
once clamped about the reason, and dissohition of feelings once melting 
the heart. Occasions like the present stand in pleasant relief— green 
patches on a sandy delta -and are especially attractive and welcome. 
Fully recognizing that your tribute is not personal, but attaches to the 
high office with" which the Republicans of Pennsylvania have honored 
me, I thank vou. 

My political race is run. It is not to be understood that God's sword is 
drawn immediately against my life or that my seat in the Senate is to be 
prematurely vacated, but that with the subscription of my official oath on 
the 1 8th of January my connection with the serious labors and responsi- 
bilities of active politics ceased, except in so far as I may be committed to 
certain measures pending in the present legislature. 

I will never again be a candidate for or accept any official position. I 
have many friends to remember; I have no enemies to punish. In this 
regard I put aside the past. 

His illness began about a year before his death. For a time 
he seemed to improve, and gave nuich of his time to outdoor 
exercise. Never a strong man physically, he prided himself on 
his endurance and believed that outdoor life would restore him 
to health and give him years of hfe. He began to lose flesh 
gradually, his .stomach refused to assimilate food, and increas- 
ing weakness followed. He gradually came to expect death, 
and although he entertained the hope that he might possibly 
recover, no relief came, and the sapping of his vitality con- 
tinued. He at last removed to his home in Beaver, which he 
never again left. He showed great stoicism in his last illness. 
Coolly and firmly he took leave of earthly things. On the 
Thursday before his death he asked to be taken to his famous 
hbrary, remarking to his attendants. " I want to see my books 
once more before I die." 

His mind remained bright and active to the last. Of his 
political contests he said that he had nothing to regret, and that 
he did not think he would have fought them over again on any 
different lines of battle. He joked grimly at times, and was 
always cheerful in his conversation. 



46 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

He directed that the pallbearers at his funeral should only 
consist of those who had had peculiar, intimate, personal asso- 
ciation with him. and that no one should be invited merely on 
account of prominence or wealth. Almost the last request he 
made before his death was that there should be placed upon his 
tomb the inscription, " Implora Pacem " (pray for peace). 

The serenity with which he met his death was the best refu- 
tation of the calumny he encountered through life. 



Address of Mr. Scott, of Jf'rst I'iri^iiiia 



Address of Mr. Scott» of West Virginia. 

Mr. President: The six years of a Senator's term in this 
body are made up of many da>-s. But how few and short this 
time appears on such an occasion as this. Fighting for his 
right to a seat in this Senate, Matthew Stanley Quay was 
one of the first to greet me and bid me welcome when m}^ State 
honored me by sending me here. It was the renewal of a 
friendship begun years before, and the warm greeting was 
especially gratifying then. Now, after only a few brief years, 
I must add my word of tribute to his memory. 

With the passing on of Senator Quay there departed from 
scenes of earthly activity a great political leader, a scholar, a 
soldier, and a statesman. For nearly half a century he had 
been before the public, and this period, beginning with the war 
of the rebellion, has been full to the brim with great events. 
He early mingled with men who became famous in the nation's 
history. His career kept him in touch with them, and his 
influence grew until it extended beyond the lines of his own 
State. He was modest and retiring; cared nothing for popular 
applause, and .seldom spoke on the floor of the Senate. A man 
of more than ordinary ability, silent but determined, he was a 
leader of men and a director of public opinion. 

Well do I remember my first intimate acquaintance with 
him. It was during the campaign of 1888, when, as the first 
Administration of President Cleveland was drawing to a clo.se, 
the Republican party was striving to elect General Harrison, of 
Indiana. Still staggering from the first defeat in thirt)- years, 
the part)' was not in the be.st possible condition to win. The 
members of the national committee had met; the executive 



48 Life and Character of Mattheiv S. Quay 

committee to handle the affairs of the campaign had been 
chosen, and Mr. Quay was in the saddle. Silent, but cautious; 
alert and active, but above all ftill of confidence, he soon had 
us all eager and anxious for the fray. The result of that cam- 
paign is known to all men, and it was in these months of close 
confidence that I learned to appreciate and admire his genius 
for leading and directing. Again, in 1896, I was even more 
intimate!}' associated than before with him in our effort to elect 
William McKinley. He spent a large portion of the time of 
that campaign with us at headquarters in New York, and my 
feelings of respect and admiration were only increased by this 
association. Then eame his welcome to me to the Senate and 
m}' close friendship with him since. 

Other friends will go more especially into the details of his 
life; friends who were more intimatel}' associated with him 
during the days of his tribtilations and his success. But the 
life of a great man, of a public character, is an example to his 
fellow-citizens, and I will be pardoned if I refer briefly to his 
early surroundings in order to show the elements which made 
him great. 

A Pennsylvanian by birth, Mr. Quay boasted of the fact that 
Pennsylvanian blood two centuries old ran in his veins. A 
grandfather, as a young man, fought in the war of the Revolu- 
tion and was still young enough to shoulder a musket in the 
war of 1 81 2. The son of a Presbj-terian minister, he was reared 
surrounded by influences which undoubtedly made him what 
he was. The life of a minister in the early part of the last 
century was not one of ease and luxury. After an education 
had been given the children, the fathers and mothers of those 
days had usually done all that could be done for their families. 
But the influence of his home, and of his mother especially, was 
impressed upon his character perhaps more forcibly than is 



Address of Mr. Scott ^ of JVcst Jlrgiiiia 49 

usual under such circumstances. Trained to self-reliance from 
his childhood, after leaving college at the age of 17 the lust of 
wandering was in his blood, and had it not been for the influence 
of his mother his future career might have been most radically 
changed. It was owing to her advice that, after a brief period 
passed in Texas and Louisiana, he came home to Beaver, Pa., 
and there began the political life which was to last half a 
century. 

It is verj' remarkable that, even at the early age of 2 1 , he had 
such a hold on the affections of his neighbors that he could 
be elected to one of the best offices in the gift of his county. 
This quality of holding friends remained with him through all 
his life, and there was scarcely a time when he aspired to an 
office or a position that he was not able to succeed. Once I 
asked him the secret of his success; how it was that he was 
able to retain so large a following of people in his own State 
for so man}' years. His reply was that when he first started in 
political life he made it a rule to be as truthful and straight- 
forward in a political transaction as in a business affair; that 
he never made a promise he did not feel he would be able to 
carr}^ out; and having once made it, he bent his whole energies 
to keep his word and remain true to his friends. To the strict 
observance of this rule he attributed all his success. 

But Mr. Quay was born and came to early manhood when 
opportunities were ripe for those who sought them. Four 
years' wandering in the South had given him an insight into 
the Southern view of the political question which was then agi- 
tating and bade fair to divide the country. The trained mind 
of the young student saw most clearly the outcome, and when 
the war came he was fully prepared and could look ahead and 
see that the end was far in the future. He knew it was no 
holiday period, but was to be a bitter and a stublx)rn conflict. 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 — -4 



50 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Unexceptionally equipped in this way he threw all his energies 
into the election of the famous ' ' war governor ' ' of Pennsylva- 
nia, in the daj-s of Lincoln, Douglas, and Breckinridge, and, as 
a result, wdien the ruptuie came he was in a position to accept 
any responsibility that his ambition might demand. That his 
ambition was a worthy one and gloriously fulfilled is a matter 
of history. As a young lieutenant, as a colonel, as military 
secretary' to the governor of his State, as militar}- agent for 
his State at the nation's capital, he performed most valiant 
service to the Union. Physically weak then, as he always was 
through his life, he yet possessed a soul full of courage and 
daring. At the battle of Fredericksburg he insisted on serv- 
ing as a volunteer, when ju.st before this date he had resigned 
from the command of his regiment and been ordered home on 
account of illness. The surgeons told him that it meant death, 
and his onh- reply was that he preferred death on the battlefield 
to life as a coward. This is only one instance of the indomi- 
table spirit of the man, always aiming for high attainments, and 
in this case, as in others, the reward was equal to his deserts, 
for Congress presented him with a medal of honor. With four 
years of such service, with four years of such courage, with 
four years of such experience, it is not to be W'Ondered that the 
coming of peace found him one of the best equipped and one of 
the most promising young men of the great Keystone State. 

Reared in the atmosphere of a minister's home of the early 
thirties or forties of the nineteenth century, under the old 
doctrine that " children .should be seen but not heard; " with a 
further experience in the greatest war of modern times, where 
he was trained to obey orders without asking questions, it is 
not .strange that he began his renewed political life thoroughly 
imbued with the absolute necessity of saying as few words as 
possible. 



Address of Mr. Scott, of West I'irginia 51 

He was known as "The Silent Leader," and as such he lived 
through his life of usefulness to the end. Delegations of admir- 
ing friends, political leaders from all over the country, and 
newspaper men might all visit him and strive to find out his 
details of campaign, but all were unsuccessful. "In the soli- 
tude of his own originality ' ' he mapped out his plans of battle 
and carried them to successful issue. Yet in affairs of State 
he fought in the open, and it was not necessary for those who 
sought to know his position on matters of public policy to hunt 
him with a dark lantern. On these subjects he was alwa\s 
open and frank. 

That a man of such positive character should have many 
friends and many enemies goes almost without the saying. 
His friends were the kind who would follow him to the death. 
His enemies and traducers were many. The calumnies that 
were heaped upon him by them were numerous and bitter. 
But through it all he lived to prove that his character could 
not be tarnished or affected by false accusations. Such a life, 
such a character, such achievements were the result of the 
conditions by which he was surrounded, and of the atmosphere 
of his early home. America only can produce such men. 

To-day we turn aside from the usual busy routine of life to 
speak of him, our colleague, who only a brief 3'ear ago .sat here 
in this Chamber lending us the aid of his wisdom and splendid 
intellect. We miss him for these qualities, but, above all, his 
friends miss him for his lovable personality. He is not forgot- 
ten by those of us who knew him and who loved him. True 
to his friends, they who knew him best mourn him most, and 
with pleasant memories bid him, not "good-by," but "good 
night." His life, like the lives of all great men, has left 
behind it "footprints on the sands of time" which will not 
soon be erased. 



52 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire. 

Mr. President: There is a popular impression that because 
the Senate of the United States is a continuing body the 
changes in its membership are few and at long intervals, but 
such is not the case; indeed, the changes are so frequent as 
to startle one when the fact is contemplated. At the end of 
a little less than fourteen years of membership in this body 
I find myself the fifteenth Senator in length of continuous 
service, and on the 4th day of next March three of those 
who are now my seniors will retire. Death has done its 
full part in accomplishing this result. During that time 
twenty-two Senators have died in service, they being Preston 
B. Plumb, of Kansas; John S. Barbour, of Virginia; Randall 
L. Gibson, of Louisiana; John E. Kenna, of West Virginia; 
Leland Stanford, of California; Alfred H. Colquitt, of Geor- 
gia; Zebulon B. Vance, of North Carolina; Francis B. Stock- 
bridge, of Michigan; Isham G. Harris, of Tennessee; James 
Z. George, of Mississippi; Joseph H. Earle, of South Caro- 
lina; Edward C. Walthall, of Mississippi; Justin S. Morrill, 
of Vermont; Monroe E. Hayward, of Nebraska; John H. Gear, 
of Iowa; Cushman K. Davis, of Minnesota; James H. Kyle, 
of South Dakota; William J. Sewell, of New Jersey; James 
McMillan, of Michigan; Marcus A. Hanna, of Ohio; Mat- 
thew S. Quay, of Pennsylvania; and George F. Hoar, of 
Massachusetts. In addition, twenty-five Senators with whom 
I have .served have died since retiring from the Senate, in- 
cluded in the list being such men as John Sherman, of Ohio; 
Daniel W. Voorhees, of Indiana; John M. Palmer, of Illi- 
nois; Stephen M. White, of California; John B. Gordon, of 



Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire 53 

Georgia; Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts; George G. Vest, 
of Missouri; Joseph N. Dolph, of Oregon; Richard Coke, of 
Texas; and Philetus Sawyer, of Wisconsin. Truly, the angel 
of death has been busy in our midst during those years, ad- 
monishing us of the fact that man's days are numbered, 
and that, as the Scriptures express it, "They are passed 
a\^ay as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the 

prey." 

When I first came to the Senate it was my privilege to be 
assigned to a committee of which Matthew S. Quay was a 
member, and in that way I came to know and to admire the 
man. As the years passed our friendship ripened, and I 
learned to regard him as an able, scholarly gentleman, devoted 
to the service of his State and country. He was industrious 
and methodical, always keeping well in hand the multitudi- 
nous duties that come to a Senator from a great State like 
Pennsylvania. It has been said that fidelity in small things 
is at the base of every great achievement, and it seemed to 
me that this accounted in a great degree for Senator Quay's 
success. He knew the people of his State, and kept in close 
touch with all classes. Their requests were promptly and 
cheerfully complied with, nothing being too trivial for con- 
sideration on his part, and in return he had the confidence 
and trust of the great mass of his constituents. He looked 
carefully after details, and in an unostentatious way did thou- 
sands of little kindnesses that the world knew not of He 
exemplified the truth of Wordsworth's words— 

That best portion of a good man's life— 
His little, nameless, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love. 

Such was the man as I knew him. True, he was a politi- 
cian, and his life was a stormy and eventful one. In his long 



54 I-ifc ^'^''^ CJiaractcr of Matthew S. Quay 

public career he encountered the hostility of powerful influ- 
ences, and his enemies sought to destroy him by every means 
in their power. But amid it all he was calm, patient, and 
determined, serene in the knowledge that the people of his 
State supported and indorsed him. In due time the bitter 
and unrelenting opposition to Senator Quay became powerful 
enough to prevent his reelection to the Senate, notwithstand- 
ing the legislature was strongly Republican and he was the 
choice of a large majority of his party. The struggle was a 
notable one, resulting in his defeat and leaving a vacancy in 
the vSenate. Senator Quay was appointed by the governor to 
fill the vacanc}', and the contest was transferred to this body, 
where there was a wide difference of opinion as to the con- 
stitutional right of the governor to appoint under the circum- 
stances. It early became apparent that the vote would be 
close, but knowing that I had in former cases taken strong 
ground against the right of appointment under similar condi- 
tions Senator Quay did not solicit my support, and I spoke 
and voted against hini. My vote would have given him the 
seat, and naturally I suspected that he might show some re- 
sentment. Subsequently he was elected, and when he took 
his seat he found occasion to say that holding the opinions 
I did my action was entirely consistent and proper, and that 
he could find no fault whatever with it. That was charac- 
teristic of the man, and the incident strengthened my affection 
for him. 

Senator Quay was a scholar and a student. He had a choice 
library, and his books were his constant companions. His 
knowledge was broad and comprehensive, his ideas well ma- 
tured, and his conclusions on important matters worked out 
with a care and precision that made his advocacy of any cause 
quite potential. We all remember, in the last Congress, at a 



Address of Mr. Gallinger^ of New Hajupshirc 55 

time when a fatal disease was doing its deadly work, how ear- 
nestly he labored for the passage of the statehood bill and how 
philosophically he accepted defeat when it became evident 
that a vote could not be secured. I know that it was a grieVous 
disappointment to him, but he had fully learned the lesson of 
bowing to the inevitable, and he accepted the result without 
fault-finding or bitterness. 

Senator Quay had a kind heart, and his sympathies went out 
to the poor and afflicted of earth. His interest in the Indian 
tribes of the country was sublime. One of the last services he 
performed in the Senate was to make a touching and powerful 
appeal in support of some matter of legislation that affected the 
interests of certain Indians. His intimate knowledge of the 
legislation of Congress regarding the Indian tribes enabled him 
to speak with authority, and his appeals in their behalf were 
rarely ever in vain. 

Senator Quay was a modest man. He never boasted of his 
achievements. A brave and distinguished soldier, he rarely 
ever mentioned the fact that he had served in the Army. The 
idol of his State, he bore his honors with becoming humility. 
Perhaps the greatest political general of his day, he seldom, if 
ever, alluded to his triumphs in the field of practical politics. 
Quiet, retiring, and undemonstrative, he did his (lail>- work 
without the noise and bluster that smaller men sometimes 
employ to attract attention to their importance. Thus he 
lived and thus he died, true to his convictions and true to his 
friends — a man of indomitable will, of resolute purpose, and of 
tremendous force of character. He did not escape cahunny 
and invective, but amid all the storms of abuse and villifica- 
tion that burst upon him he marched quietly on, conscious of 
the fact that the people of his State would uphold and vindi- 
cate him, as they never failed to do. Perfect he was not, and 



56 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

perfection he did not claim, but those of us who knew him 

well estimated him at his true worth, and were proud of his 

friendship. 

M*r. President, the chances are that no man in our whole 

public life was ever so abused as was Senator Quay, a portion 

of the public press following him, with bitter denunciation, to 

his grave, even disturbing the fresh covering of his last resting 

place. Fqrgetting the philosophy of Elbert Hubbard, that "if 

love is life and hate is death, how can spite benefit?" every 

slander that had been uttered against him was revived and 

amplified after his life had ebbed away. Ignoring the fact 

that— 

No man can save his brother's soul, 
Nor pay his brother's debt, 

and forgetting the teachings of Him who, in His own life, 
illustrated the blessed doctrine of love and forgiveness, he was 
pursued to his grave with a vindictiveness and bitterness seldom 
paralleled in our history. But, notwithstanding that, the peo- 
ple of his State and the men with whom he served in this body 
will not soon forget his virtues nor fail to give honor to his 
memory. 

Senator Quay knew and experienced a full modicum of the 
labors and anxieties that come to all men in public life who 
faithfully look after the interests of their constituents. He 
was literally worn-out in the public service, and when his 
strength failed and his eyes grew dim it could well be said of 

him: 

Gone past the fret and fever of life; 

All his songs have been sung. 

And his words have been said; 
And if bitterness lived in his soul once, or strife. 

They now are dead. 



Address of Mr. McLaurin^ of Mississippi 57 



Address of Mr. McLaurin, of Mississifpk 

Mr. President: Between the two dates of birth and death 
the history of the man is made. Every man has the making 
of, and makes, his own history. How that hfe's history is 
written is usually left to others. It is not only fitting, there- 
fore, but it is due that those cognizant of the things which 
give the character of the man should bear testimony to such 
things when he has departed. Hence the appropriateness of 
this memorial day to commemorate the traits of character that 
endeared Senator Matthew Stanley Quay to his friends, and 
the deeds and words that made him famous. I venture only a 
few words of mine to this pleasant, while sad, duty. 

I met Senator Quay first in February, 1894, either on the 
day I first entered the Senate, February 15, 1894, or a few days 
thereafter. I thought I knew him before I ever met him. 
After meeting him I found that I had been correct in that 
opinion. I had entertained of him the opinion that he was a 
man of unfaltering loyalty to his friends and unwavering 
fidelity to friendship. Upon meeting and knowing him I 
found that this opinion was true. That admirable trait of 
character was broadened by another— that he never forgot or 
forfeited his obligation. If he promised, his performance was 
sure. No one who knew him wanted any further assurance. 
"His word was his bond." No bond could make it .surer. 

Senator Quay at one time resided in the State of Mississippi, 
the State of my nativity, and of which I have been all my life 
a citizen. Just after his graduation at college he visited in 
Mississippi the home of his college mate, classmate, and chum. 
This was before the war, when the people of Mississippi were 



58 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

among the wealthiest of the land. His host was a wealthy 
man and insisted that Mr. Quay should remain his guest while 
teaching school in the neighborhood, which he did for several 
3'ears. He was invited to make the home of his classmate and 
chum his own home, and enjoyed its hospitalities during his 
residence in the State of Mississippi. 

Before the war he returned to his native State, Pennsylvania, 
and engaged on the northern side in that struggle. After the 
war was over and his Mississippi friends had become impov- 
erished by its results, he sought them out to ascertain their 
financial condition, and when he himself reached a position 
where he could aid them in securing positions of employ- 
ment from which they could earn a livelihood he did so, and 
thus earned the gratitude of a large number of the people of 
Mississippi. 

His friendship was so warm and his loyalty to friends so 
strong that on one occasion he threatened to break with the 
leader of his party unless he should appoint the widow of the 
man, although of different politics from himself, who had be- 
friended him in Mississippi, to a position from which she could 
earn a livelihood. I recur to these incidents to give you some 
idea of the character of Senator Quay. 

Senator Quay was an unpretentious man, unostentatious, a 
man of great thinking power and of great will power, a man 
who gave close attention to the details of every business which 
he had in hand. 

I have observed him in his place in the Senate sitting for what 
seemed hours scarcely changing his posture, apparently in deep 
thought over some problem of politics or state. In this respect 
he and Senator Vest, who was his close personal friend, very 
much reminded me of each other. 



Address of Mr. McLaiirin, of Mississippi 59 

Senator Quay did not speak often or much in the Senate, 
but what he said was clear and to the point. When he did 
speak, he usually spoke for immediate and substantial effect. 
He did not essay to be a leader of his party, but leadership of 
his party essayed to be Quay. His last effort in the Senate was 
to procure the passage of an act to admit the four existing Ter- 
ritories into the Union as four separate States on an equal foot- 
ing with the States now composing the Union. His heart was 
set upon the accomplishment of this work, and by common and 
tacit consent he was accepted as leader in this movement by 
Senators who shared in this desire. His work was character- 
istic of him. He went directly at it; and though his health 
was weak and failing he never faltered. His .superb leadership 
in this effort was recognized by his coadjutors and opponents, 
and he needed but an opportunity to vote on the measure to 
achieve success, an opportunity which the .shortness of the 
session thwarted. 

Senator Quay was gentle to his friends and courteous to all. 

I will not consume more of the time of this memorial service. 
I did not rise to make a .speech, but, as Senator Qu.\Y was my 
friend, I embraced this occasion to record my testimony to his 
merits and my sorrow at his death. 



6o Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Hansbrough» of North Dakota. 

Mr. President: In a most interesting and carefully pre- 
pared biography occurred the following concise paragraph, 
showing the pronounced mental qualities in the late Senator 
Quay: 

In Beaver they say of Matthew Stanley Quay that his chief char- 
acteristic was will power; the second, infinite patience and genius for 
details; the third, a great power to compromise differences in his party; 
the fourth, to keep his word; the fifth, to be silent and study his books— 
when there was nothing else to do, for he was a great reader of books. 
His home in Beaver was that of the student and scholar. 

Here, Mr. President, we have in a terse form the distin- 
guishing traits in the life of a man born to lead — the character- 
istics which lie at the very bottom of practical statesmanship, 
for it was in leadership and statecraft that he excelled. Against 
the results which he accomplished along these parallel lines of 
conspicuous talents the detractions contrived by acrimonious 
critics, the false accusations concocted by jealous rivals, can 
not endure. 

My personal acquaintance with Mr. Quay extended over a 
period of about sixteen years. I first saw him at a national 
convention standing on a chair looking over the sea of faces, 
but more particularly into the faces of the Pennsylvania dele- 
gation as they answered to their names on a roll call. The 
delegation was being polled on an important vote by yeas and 
nays. In the process one delegate violated the instructions of 
the State convention that elected him, whereupon Mr. Quay 
calmly warned the recalcitrant that he would not go to another 
convention, and he never did. 



Address of Mr. Hansbrough, of North Dakota 6i 

Mr. Quay was a firm believer in party organization based 
upon the will of the party majority. Possessing a rare genius 
as an organizer— able, tactful, courageous, frank, and truthful, 
always con.siderate of predominant public opinion, which he 
seldom failed to measure with accuracy— we can easily under- 
stand how for years he maintained supremacy in the great 
Keystone State, and why his advice and suggestions were so 
highly valued by those whom he assisted in formulating party 
policies in the nation. 

As a convention manager he had no superior. His strength 
in this regard was grounded in a phenomenal knowledge of men. 
Human ambitions, as evinced in politics, were to him as the 
keyboard of a grand piano to Paderewski. Did he plaj upon 
the controlling motives of ambitious men? Undoubtedly so, 
yet not in the sense of trifling with them, but rather with the 
solemn purpose and the fruitful result of bringing them into 
harmonious accord. Invariably, the best parliamentarians, 
without knowing by whom they had been selected, wielded the 
gavel. The orators were always heard each in his respective 
role. Vital motions came somehow and at the opportune time 
from the right delegate in the most important delegation; and 
when the convention had adjourned the rank and file applauded 
and commended its work, for it was at once apparent that the 
strongest and most available men in the party had been nomi- 
nated. Almost before the tumult of the great gathering had 
ceased the modest political philosopher, out of whose brain the 
result had been achieved, was complacently dallying with the 
fishes of the lakes among the cooling woods of Maine, evolving 
the plans for final victory in November. 

Party history will justify the assertion so often made that 
Republicans owed their success in 1888 to the superb manage- 
ment, the invincible skill, of Mr. Quay. Only the unfortunate 



62 Life and Character of Matthew S. Qtiay 

physical condition of the Presidential candidate he favored at 
the Minneapolis convention prevented a Republican victory in 
1892. Many instances of this character, showing his superior 
abilities in the field of partisan politics, might be cited. For 
his worth in this regard he was admired by a wide host of 
party friends as well as by a multitude of men who did not 
agree with him in matters of pohtical principle. By a few 
individuals, whom it is unnecessary to classify, he was misrep- 
resented, maligned, and caricatured until thoughtless people — 
those with superficial minds, without knowing or caring to 
know anything about the real facts, strangers to the warm, 
manly impulses of his patriotic heart — came to speak lightly 
and disrespectfully of him, because he did not subscribe to the 
impracticable things that delighted their theoretical souls. To 
such as these, party organizations are hideous nightmares. I 
speak now in the presence of a distinguished assemblage of men 
who came to the position they occupy here through the 
machinery of party politics. This is none the less true of our 
predecessors and our legislative colleagues at the other end of 
the Capitol. It will be true as to our and their successors. It 
has been so as to all our Presidents. Underlying and serving 
as the motive power of this machinery are certain fixed political 
principles, and yet no man who has succeeded to place through 
the agency of this machinery can justly rest his claim to dis- 
tinction wholly upon his adherence to party tenets, entirely 
apart from the influences which hold party organizations 
together. When a man proclaims that he will accept an office 
if it comes to him unencumbered by pledge or promise, the 
world applauds, as it has -a right to do, for here is a hero, self- 
crowned though he be. And yet this is but another way 
which this exceptional candidate has adopted of saying that he 
is "in the hands of his friends." Who are these friends? 



Address of Mr. Hausbrough, of North Dakota 63 

None other than those who must organize for success, and this 
organization is the party machine, no worse perhaps, and surely 
no better, than the one that preceded it. But, while party 
organization endures, dyspeptics and misanthropes will com- 
plain about what they offensively term the "machine;" and 
how true it is that — 

On eagle's wings immortal scandals fly, 
While virtuous actions are but born and die. 

Mr. Quay rarely indulged in speechmaking. He belonged 
to that class of men, small in number though distinguished in 
deeds, who proceed upon the theory that in silence there is 
wasdom. It was in action that he was strongest. And yet, 
where speech became a prerequisite to action, he did not fail. 
His public utterances during all the years he was a member of 
this body cover but few pages of the Record. Yet in that time 
no great questions were determined without the aid of his 
advice. During the period of his political activity he labored 
incessantly for the success of the party in whose principles he 
l)elieved, and in his own State his leadership, never successfully 
challenged, was acquiesced in and encouraged by the many dis- 
tinguished men who.se combined wi.sdoni has brought renown 
to Pennsylvania. His title to the place of leader in his own 
State can be easily traced. It was based upon a complete 
knowledge of public affairs and a simple purpose to better the 
condition and promote the happine.ss of a vast constituency. 
We find evidence of this fact in an address delivered by Mr. 
Quay to the State League of Republican clul)s, May 14, 1901, 
at Philadelphia, in the course of which he said: 

Ever since the Republican party came into power the State government 
has been wisely and economically administered — administered, indeed, 
with an economy which, in view of our population, wealth, territorv, 
multiplied industries, manufactures, mines, oil production, railroads, and 
canals, seems almost parsimony. 



64 Life afid Charactej- of Matthew S. Qticty 

When the Republican party came into power in Pennsylvania the State 
debt approximated $40,000,000; now it is less than $i77.5oo- Then the 
annual interest charge was twice the amount of the total debt and annual 
interest to-day. Then all lands were taxed for State purposes; now they 
are exempt. Then horses, cattle, carriages, watches, occupations, and 
professions were taxed for State purposes; now they are exempt, and in 
the meantime $10,500,000 have been spent upon schools for soldiers' 
orphans. These taxes repealed have not been replaced by any tax upon 
individuals. 

In the meantime the annual appropriation for common schools has been 
increased from |3oo,ooo to $6,250,000. Since then the large revenues 
derived from liquor licenses have been diverted almost entirely from the 
State to the treasuries of the counties and nmnicipalities. Then each 
county was compelled to maintain its own indigent insane; now the State 
bears half the burden. The repealed taxes have been made up by the 
revenues derived from moneys at interest, three-fourths of which is 
returned to the counties, and by imposing additional burdens upon corpo- 
rations. It is proper also to allude to the fact that when the Republican 
party came into power laws for the protection of labor were almost 
unknown. Now their catalogue is too long for quotation. 

Mr. President, to have been, during most of the period in 

which these important events occurred, the leader of a pohtical 

organization so closely identified in policy and aspiration with 

them is a sufficient and a lasting monument to any man. 



Address of Mr. Stc7cari^ of Nevada 65 



Address of Mr» Stewart, of Nevada. 

Mr. President: Matthew Stanley Quay was a marked 
character. He excelled in those qualities which challenge ad- 
miration and inspire love and affection. He was continuousl\' 
elevated by the votes of the people to prominent places in the 
great State of Pennsylvania for more than half a century. He 
was a friend of the people, and in return the people were his 
friends. He entered without flinching into many contests with 
the most formidable political combinations in his State. He 
was fearless in his contentions against wroi;g; he was generous 
and kindly in his intercourse with the weak. Although I 
knew he was a dominant force in Pennsylvania, my personal 
acquaintance with him commenced after he became United 
States Senator in 1887. We were both members of the Com- 
mittee on Claims. He displayed remarkable patience, industry, 
and an intuitive sense of justice without the slightest egotism 
or self-assertion. 

I soon found that he was a man of remarkable will power; 
that he was continrally doing things. Although a scholar and 
a master of the English language, he never attempted to gain 
reputation by saying things. He wrote to expre.ss ideas and 
not for the purpose of dazzling the public with literary rainbows. 

During the first session of Congress in which we served to- 
gether I met a poorly clad, sickly old woman selling flowers. 
Her distressed condition attracted ray attention. I stopped and 
gave her a quarter of a dollar. She said to me: 

"You are good; you are almost as good as that man over 
there," pointing to Senator Quay, who was walking on the 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 5 



66 Life and Character of Matthew 5. Quay 

opposite side of the street. I inquired of her: " What did he 
do for you?" She rephed: " He gives me a Httle money every 
time he comes along, and if it had not been for him I should 
have starved to death. I pray for him every night." 

This little instance gave me some insight into the character 
of Senator Quay. There was hardly a month during the time 
he was in the Senate that I did not learn from the poor and 
distressed of similar charities by him. What he did in that 
Hne, however, was known only to himself and the objects of 
his charity. His sympathy for the sufTering of others and his 
kind consideration for the common people furnish a key to his 
hold on the affections of the people of Pennsylvania. Men may 
ride into power on account of political organization, personal 
wealth, or powerful associations, but the man who is kept in 
public place by the votes of the people without artificial aids 
for more than a generation must be in sympathy with the 
masses. That mutual love and affection which bind the people 
to a great character and hold them to him during a half cen- 
tury is the highest evidence that can exist of his real worth. 
The ambition of the great men of Pennsylvania, the power of 
wealth, of organization and combination, all conspired in vain 
to alienate the affection of the people of Pennsylvania for him 
or break down his indomitable will. Sometimes it seemed to 
the outside world that he was overthrown and destroyed, but 
in the following campaign Mr. Quay was invariably found in 
the lead. The effort to defeat him for the Senate in the la.st 
campaign appeared to have exhausted the force of all oppo- 
sition to him. I am informed on good authority that it was 
conceded before his death that if he had lived a few months 
longer he would have been returned to the United States 
Senate without opposition from any source. 



Address of Mr. Stccvart, of Nevada 67 

Mr. Quay was not only great in his own State, but he was 
a national character. The part he acted in national politics, 
not only in leading the Pennsylvania delegation at many 
national conventions, but in the consummate management of 
the Harrison campaign, gave him the first place among the 
brilliant leaders of political forces in the United States. 

Senator Quay was eminently a domestic man. His home 
was a model for American families. Undoubtedly much of 
the strength and fortitude which he exhibited in his contests 
with the political giants of his time had their origin in the 
surroundings of his happy home. His loving wife and devoted 
children made that home a place of rest and recuperation and 
enabled him to meet each coming contest with renewed vigor 
of body and mind. Everyone who visited his house and saw 
him surrounded in his library by his loving family was struck 
with the contrast between what he really was and what jealous 
rivalry had painted him to be. 

Senator Quay was intensely American. His views were 
progres.sive and he devoted himself to the utmost of his power 
to build up the industries of his State and the whole coun- 
try. Business men everywhere trusted him and recognized 
in him a great and reliable force in protecting and building 
up the material interests of the country. 

He did not pretend to be better than he was. Although 
he was a great student of religious books, he never sought 
to achieve popularity by ostentatious display of the emblems 
of piety. All religious denominations trusted his impartial 
judgment and had confidence that their rights would be 
respected by him. 

His great and commanding leadership in the Republican 
party did not prejudice him against men of the opposition. 



68 Life and Character of MattJiczc S. Quay 

Although a soldier and an ardent Union man during tue civil 
war, he recognized the sturdy manhood and daring chivalry 
of the men of the South. His friendships were not bound 
by sectional lines. The brotherly love between him and man}- 
of the prominent leaders of the armies of the South distin- 
guished him as full}- capable of discriminating between per- 
sonal relations and national policies. If there were enough 
Matthew Stanley Quays in the world the nations would 
understand each other better and the longing for universal 
peace might be gratified. 

Pennsylvania has produced many great men. but it is doubt- 
ful if any of her sons has excelled or will excel Matthew 
Stanxey Quay in those qualities of head and heart which 
men love and respect. His keen intellect and iiTesistible will 
Avere recognized throughout the whole country. His fidelity 
to truth, and affection for the masses secured for him the 
devoted friendship of millions. He was true to every obli- 
gation of friendship; his word was as sacred as his life; 
friends and enemies alike bear testimony that a promise of 
Senator Quay's could not be improved by the indorsement 
of friend or foe. 

The Senate and the country mourn his loss. All sympa- 
thize with his bereaved family. The many good deeds that 
he performed, the good example that he has left, and the 
untarnished name that he has bequeathed to his descendants 
are legacies of greater value and more precious than wealth 
or rank could bestow. 



Address of Mr. Dubois, of Idaho 69 



• Address of Mr. Dubois, of Idaho. 

Mr. President: In the passing of Senator Matthew- 
Stanley Quay from this Chamber and from this Hfe the 
Senate and the nation are deprived of a strong character, one 
that withstood the battles of hfe nobly and well for the allot- 
ted period of threescore years and ten. 

In the character of this Senator many traits of a peculiar, 
unusual, and commendable order were highly exemplified. 
His quiet removal calls instinctively to mind that a higher 
power easily does that which by harsh methods weak 
humanity attempts, but signally fails to accomplish. This 
great, rich life which was offered up but a few months ago, 
was unusually full of fierce battle and fiery conquest. Sena- 
tor Quay loved his friends with a devotion .seldom ecpialed 
by man, and he knew^ no limit in accomplishing for them 
that which they desired. He battled with his enemies with 
a relish as evident as though the obstacles crossed his path- 
way as a matter of course. He met opposition cheerfully and 
manfully, and invariably forced his opponents to admire his 
signal genius, usually emerging from the battle the stronger 
for the conflict. He was extremely modest in his demeanor, 
an everyday man, unemotional, and plain, and the story of 
the end of his hfe portrays that .steadfa.st, innate trait .so 
prominent in him to be always brave and face the inevitable 
as calmly as he had always theretofore faced the stern reali- 
ties of his turbulent career. 

Senator Quay was a mo.st striking character of the active, 

forceful, American type of men who are unswerving in the 

accomplishment of results, and who brush aside as of no 



yo Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

moment all obstacles lying along their path. Even death 
itself had no terror for this brave and stoic nature. 
"Undaunted he lived, and undaunted he died." He was 
rich in many of the things that men of to-day so much 
need. Rich in strength, force, and courage; rich in wisdom 
and judgment; and rich in tact and in decision. Especially 
was he rich in his consistent devotion to his native Com- 
monwealth, Pennsylvania. If he knew of any limit to the 
great resourcefulness of this his native State, he passed it 
by and adored those things which she possessed in supera- 
bundance. In his speech at Phoenixville, Pa., some fifteen 
years ago, he made use of this beautiful tribute to Pennsyl- 
vania, after enumerating in detail many of its great diversified 
resources, which the sons and daughters of that early Quaker 
territory will be glad to hand down with no small degree of 
pride to the later generation of people who are to take up 
the battles of life where they fall. He said: 

If this Union of States were dissolved, Pennsylvania could stand alone 
and be a nation unto herself. 

And again, in the same speech, he displayed a degree of loy- 
alty to Pennsylvania which his descendants will cherish for 
many generations, in the following words: 

I am proud that there is not a drop of blood in my veins that is not 
Pennsylvania blood two centuries old; I thank God I am a Pennsylvanian. 

No more striking evidence of his steadfastness of purpose was 
presented to me in his great life than in my association with 
him in our Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He was as 
true a friend as the American Indian ever had. When impor- 
tuned and labored with by persistent lobbyists to affect his action 
he never, in all his connection with that committee, lost sight 
for an instant of the Indian and his condition, his assets, and 
his ultimate welfare. In him the connnittte, the vSenate, and 



Address of Mr. Dubois.^ of Idaho 71 

the country had an able representative; but the red man had a 
benevolent friend and an able defender. 

Whether or not the fact that the deceased Senator carried 
in his veins a small percentage of Delaware Indian blood, or 
whether or not he cherished the interesting recollections of his 
early ancestors, some of whom but a few generations since had 
more Indian blood than he, matters little. Albeit the fires of 
friendship toward them burned brightly, and the spirit of loy- 
alty always unselfishly exhibited by him toward the Indian 
elicited my firm admiration and impresses me now with the 
signal wisdom of the Delaware Indians at their annual dance a 
year ago last Thanksgiving Day, which the deceased Senator 
attended, in electing him as war chief of their tribe, a dis- 
tinction which came to him as a surprise, but which he held 
in very high appreciation. 

While at this annual dance of the Delaware Indians, in 
1903, some old Indian women made him presents of mocca- 
sins. The Senator gave each of them a present of $50, and 
perhaps I would never have known anything about it if the 
old ladies themselves had not told it. 

In one of his recent visits to Florida an old Seminole Indian 
who was sick was sent to the hospital by Senator Quay, who 
paid the hospital charges and for the surgical operation nec- 
essary to be performed on him. 

When Chief Joseph and his party of Nez Perce Indians from 
my State were in Washington, and had no money to take them 
home, Senator Quay took them to the President and arrange- 
ments were made by which certain funds could be used to 
pay their expenses while here and their transportation home. 
Another Indian was in the party— John Hill — who could not 
be provided for in the same manner as Chief Joseph, owing to 
the fact that he was not a Nez Perce. Senator Quay offered 



72 Life and Character of Mattheiv S. Quay 

to paj^ the expenses of Hill out of his own pocket, but Hill 
happened to have enough money to pay his own expenses and 
did not accept the help. 

The foregoing are only a few of the many instances of this 
kind that I happen to know about. 

I esteem it a high privilege to have served with him on this 
Indian Committee, and now that he is no more with us I 
know that his spirit is still in our deliberations there, and 
that his insistence for justice to these people influences us in 
the determination of the many perplexing questions which 
confront us. 

As a friend he was always true; as an enemy he was always 
frank and generous. I doubt if anyone who has served his 
country in this Chamber for the last quarter of a century 
could accomplish as much, purely through his pensonality 
as he. 

He was always true and reliable. He was quick to give a 
promise, but never failed in its performance. He would make 
up his decision while the case was being stated and was ready 
with an answer. His answer was binding, and if the request 
was preferred by a friend was always a pledge of assistance 
if there was not some reason which rendered his assistance 
impossible. In this case he frankly stated why he could 
not aid. His frankness and sincerity were his unique and 
wonderful charm and the source of his great power. 

Senator Quay was a student and possessed of much literary 
knowledge, and had a fine grasp of great problems of govern- 
ment. His advice was sought and followed by the great 
leaders of his party. I love to think of him, however, and 
shall always remember him, as an ideal of what a kind and 
sympathetic man and a true friend should be. 



Address of Mr. Fairbanks^ of Indiana 73 



Address of Mr. FAiRBANKSt of Indiana. 

Mr. President: We a.^ain pause to pay our tri1)ute to the 
memory of a friend and coworker in the piibhc service. As the 
years pass we are forciljly reminded of the frequency of this 
sad and loving ofifice. If the roll of those who have laid dow n 
their earthly responsibilities during the comparatively few years 
of my presence in this exalted Chamber were to be called, it 
would be a long and notable one. Another name has been 
added to that distinguished list, and we are met to do it honor. 
Upon the morrow we shall meet to record the passing of some 
other coadjutor, but who it will be is known oidy to the 
All-wi.se. We know only this, and that is the harvest of 
death is unending. 

Senator Matthew Stanley Quay was essentially self- 
made, as are those who most impress them.selves upon their 
times. He was born to neither wealth nor .station. He came 
from the modest home of a Presbyterian minister; a home per- 
vaded by a generous, wholesome, religious, and patriotic .spirit; 
a frugal home, where love of God, love of neighbor, and love 
of country were inculcated, where .self-reliance was taught. 

Senator Quay was a political general of extraordinary capac- 
ity. He was one of the most masterful political leaders of his 
day. He was the undisputed leader of his party in the great 
State of Pennsylvania for more than a quarter of a century. 
He also held a place of commanding influence in the national 
councils of his party. He was once intrustet'. with the leader- 
.ship of a national campaign. The result was success, due in 
large measure to his superb generalship. He was adroit in 
mapping out and executing his political campaigns. He drew 



74 -^{/^ '^'^'^ Character of MattJiew S. Quay 

about him men in whose loyal purpose he had faith and in 
whose capacity to execute his plans he had the utmost confi- 
dence. He exacted the most loyal allegiance and repaid devo- 
tion with his own fidelity. He was a man who had in full 
degree the faculty of making and holding friends. They stood 
by him under all conditions, in sunshine and in shadow. He 
verily bound them to him as with hoops of steel. 

He was a man of rare self-control. Amidst the storm he 
was serene, moving with almost resistless power to the accom- 
plishment of his purpose. He fought many sharply contested 
political battles. He received and gave many hard blows, and 
to some he seemed indifferent to criticism, but there were few 
men with more deeply sensitive natures than his. He had a 
heart which was easily touched. He cherished in full measure 
the good opinion of his fellows and was deeply grieved when 
he lost the approval of a friend. 

Senator Quay testified his loyalty to his country in that 
hour which put loyalty to the highest test. He was a believer 
in the virtue of our institutions, and when the national Union 
was in peril he promptly entered the military service of the 
Government. He met all of the arduous demands made upon 
him with intelligent and firm resolution. He demonstrated at 
all times his ability as an organizer. By gallantry displayed 
on the field of battle he won and received from the Congress 
of the United States a medal of honor. There was no service 
which he was not ready to render in behalf of his country and 
his countrymen. Wherever duty called he was ready to go. 

I had but little personal acquaintance with Senator Quay 
prior to my entrance to the Senate. I can never forget the 
kindly and helpful personal interest he manifested when I 
came here, tuifamiliar with the important duties and the great 
responsibilities which rest upon a Senator. For years we were 



Address of Mr. Fairbanks^ of Indiana 75 

associated upon one of the most important committees of this 
Chamber, and in the consideration of the questions which came 
before it he was actuated by but one motive, and that was to 
promote in the fullest possible degree the public interest. He 
was inspired by no other thought in the discharge of his duties 
than the advancement of the welfare of his countrymen. 

Senator Quay rarely engaged in debate, but when he spoke 
he spoke pointedly and clearly. He had the power of lumi- 
nous and compact statement. His utterances were not embel- 
lished with those graces which the skilled orator employs to 
fascinate and fix the attention of his auditors. As a rule, he 
spoke only when necessity required, and in the di.scharge of 
some duty especially imposed upon him by his committee 
assignments. 

He was diligent, painstaking, and earnest in his committee 
service, that service which is beyond the reach of the public 
eye, and which is so essential in the proper discharge of the 
business of this great body. No important measure promotive 
of the public welfare stands to his personal credit, yet he con- 
tributed his full share to the enactment of laws and the 
establishment of policies which conserve the public interest. 
Legislation and public policies are largel}' the fruit of many 
minds, the composite reflection and mature judgment of many 
statesmen cooperating to a common end. He made his just 
contribution to the measures which engaged the attention of 
the Senate during his membership here. 

His most distinctive and effective .service was in behalf of the 
protective tariff. Representing a State vitally interested in 
protection, he became an intelligent student and effective 
advocate of that great economic polic}'. He made himself 
one of the masters of the subject, particularly as it bore upon 
the manifold interests of his Connnonwealth. 



76 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

He was a man of fine literary tastes. He was a lover of 
good books and made himself familiar with them. The 
atmosphere of the library was congenial to him. His books 
were his choicest companions and he loved to dwell in their 
fellowship. But a few days before the final summons came 
he requested to be taken into his library for the last time. 
His wish was granted, and he glanced through the choicest 
volumes and parted with them as wath friends of many years. 

Mr. President, our friend has left us a legacy of many kind 
and generous deeds, which we shall hold forever in grateful 
remembrance. 



Address of Mr. Forakcr, of Ohio ^'J 



Address of Mr. Foraker, of OfflO. 

Mr. President: It is difficult to speak satisfactorily about 
Senator OrAV. Pretty nearly everybody knew him in a gen- 
eral way, but hardly anybody, so far as my knowledge goes, 
knew him intimately. He was a unique and much misunder- 
stood personality, who had all kinds of experiences in his pub- 
lic career. He had unusual success, but it was attended with 
some of the sorest and severest trials. He had legions of 
friends and devoted supporters and admirers, but he also had 
bitter enemies, who unrelentingly opposed him while living and 
bitterly defamed him when he died. Only extravagant praise 
would be regarded as just by his enthusiastic friends, while any 
eulogy will probably be regarded by his enemies as insincere 
and unmerited. 

However this may be, I can speak of him only as he was 
known to me in the long yet limited acquaintance I had with 
him. According to this knowledge his friends probably over- 
estimated him in some respects, as certainh" his enemies gros.sly 
underestimated him in many. He was largely known only as a 
political leader, but those of us who were better acquainted with 
him knew he possessed the qualities of statesmanship in a high 
degree. Many knew of him only as captain in the tempestuous 
.strife of part>- politics, but tho.se of us who were a.ssociated with 
him here knew him also as a man of the gentlest nature, as 
a devoted student of literature, as a man of scholarly attain- 
ments, with corresponding culture and refinement. 

Many who knew him only as the great leader of a great part>- 
in a great vState, largely in the public eye because of his relation 
to turbulent contests, never imagined that he was yet one of the 
nio.st silent, quiet, mode-st, patient, and una.ssuming of men. It 



yS Life and Character of Matthew S. Qteay 

is impossible to comprehend his apparently many-sided charac- 
ter without recalling his whole life, and in that way the early 
influences that operated to mold his character and make him 
what he was. 

As the son of a Presbyterian minister he was born into a 
literary atmosphere, and in his earliest years was surrounded 
by refined and cultivated people, who appreciated education, 
art, hterature, and the sciences. He had an unusual aptitude 
for study, and was zealous and ambitious in the acquirement of 
an education. At the early age of 17 he was graduated in the 
classical course at Washington and Jefferson College. After 
leaving college, for some years he devoted himself to travel, 
teaching, and lecturing, thus fastening in his mind, by the use 
he made of it, the education he had received. Returning to 
Pennsylvania, he engaged in the practice of the law, but quit 
that for the Army in the great contest for the preservation of 
the Union. 

As a soldier he was so distinguished for bravery and effi- 
ciency that he favorably attracted the attention of the gov- 
ernor of his State, who advanced him to positions of trust 
and usefulness where he had opportunity to become 
acquainted with the politics of his State, in which, by rapid 
strides, he soon became an acknowledged leader. As such 
he was sent to the Senate, where for many years he main- 
tained a conspicuous position and exerted a commanding 
influence. 

The mere suggestion of such a career is enough to show 
that he possessed unusual intellectual endowment, but this 
is particularly manifest when it is recalled that he had no 
adventitious aid to success. He was small in stature, light in 
weight, and not impressive or imposing in appearance. He 
made no pretensions to oratory, seldom spoke in public, and 
possessed but few of the charms and fascinations that so 



Address of Mr. Foraker^ of Ohio 79 

frequently prove helpful to public men. He had no natural 
influences or affiliations to support and advance him. His 
repeated and long-continued successes were distinctively his 
own achievements. They were due to the fact that he had 
unusual sound judgment, never-tiring indu.stry, unceasing 
energy, and indefatigable and well-conceived purpose, coupled 
with unusual executive capacity and a most remarkable 
knowledge of human nature, that enabled him to compre- 
hend situations and utilize individuals. 

He had manj^ great triumphs, but probabh^ the greatest, 
because the most far-reaching and most appreciated by his 
part}', was that which he achieved as national chairman of 
the Republican committee in the campaign of 1888, when 
he successfully diverted the attention of his opponents from 
New York State, where he made and won the real battle, 
to Southern and Western States, in which he made great 
demonstrations, but in reality only misleading feints. 

He further strengthened and popularized him.self with his 
party throughout the country, and particularly in his own 
State, by forcing the adoption of more satisf actor)' schedules in 
the Wilson-Gorman law b}^ holding the floor of the Senate, 
speaking and reading continuously in favor of a protective 
tariff, until the opposition in charge of the bill capitulated and 
granted acceptable rates. He also, though in a different man- 
ner, and with less resulting popularity in his part}-, saved the 
McKinley tariff bill by defeating the force bill. 

These were all exciting events at the time of their occurrence, 
and they added greatly to his fame among the people and to 
his influence in his part3\ Many other like illustrations might 
be given of his abilities as a party manager and legislator, but 
the limitations of this address preclude. Suffice it to say he 
was ever alert and resourceful whether conducting a political 
contest or a parliamentary struggle. No weakness of his 



8o Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

adversary escaped him, and while the battle lasted no vulner- 
able point was spared. 

While he did not seek these contests, in a way he seemed to 
enjoy them and the victory with which he usually emerged 
from them, for he had all the enthusiasm of battle in his 
nature, and was all aglow with life and energy when it was 
aroused; but his greatest pleasure was found in his books, to 
which, as the years went by, he became more and more 
attached. 

Only a few days before his death, when he realized that the 
end was near, these faithful companions in whose pages he had 
so often found peace, beauty, hope, and inspiration, came 
trooping before his mind, and turning to his attendants he 
said: "I want to see my books once more before I die." A 
correspondent relates that when carried into his library "he 
fondled the volumes, read a line here and there, surveyed them 
lovingly and longingly until his eyelids closed, and like a tired 
child he was carried away from them forever. ' ' He was the 
first to realize that death was approaching, and months before 
the end with characteristic wisdom he proceeded while yet in 
the enjoyment of all his faculties to "set his house in order." 
Without a murmur of complaint or regret, but with calm resig- 
nation he then waited for the summons, and when it came, 
without a struggle, a pain, or pang, he fell asleep in the midst 
of his loved ones. 

Men will differ in their estimates of his character and public 
services, but all must agree that he had a marvelous faculty for 
political and party organization, and that he had such excep- 
tional powers in these respects that he is entitled to be ranked 
in the very forefront of the great leaders of his time^ and all 
who served with him here will agree that he was a faithful 
and efficient representative of the mighty Connnonwealth he 
was so proud to .serve. 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Wyommg 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Wyoming. 

Mr. President: There was sorrow in many a heart when 
Matthew Stanley Quay passed from the scene of his earthly 
activity. It was ahnost impossible to realize that this man, 
strong among his fellows, keen in initiative, resourceful in exe- 
cution, and sure in results, should no longer have a place among 
the living sons of men. To be sure his life had been one of 
intense activity, civil and military, from the time he first 
courted fortune in the vSouth until the last day he occupied his 
place in this Chamber, and as we pause to reflect on all that 
came to his lot in those years, the things attempted, the diffi- 
culties encountered and overcome, the victories and successes 
hard fought for and won, as we recall the fact that the full 
span of life allotted to man, and more, had been his, we know 
that his life had been full; yet in spite of all these reflections 
his death seemed to us sudden and premature. 

It is no part of my purpo.se to recount with anything of detail 
the life of our departed friend. We all knew him as a man 
who had carved out his own fortunes, one who had succeeded 
in hfe by dint of his own exertions, responsible to no man for 
his action, and with a .self-confidence that ro.se superior to all 
fear and overcame all difficulties, and yet a self-confidence that 
was as far removed from egotism or self-sufficiency as is day 
from night. Quiet and sparing in speech and mild in manner, 
he yet had that unalterable determination that conquers suc- 
cess. Where others hesitated, he attempted; when the hearts 
of others failed, he reorganized his columns and pressed on to 
accomplishment. 

In political matters especially was his daring noticeable. 
Many a forlorn hope has he led in this Chamber and time and 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 6 



82 Life and Oiaracter of Matthew S. Quay 

time again brought victory out of what seemed ahnost impossi- 
ble conditions or sure defeat. But strong as was his will when 
set upon a given purpose, hard contestant as he was in political 
and other controversies, yet there were few more charming in 
their social lives; a man of wide reading and generous infor- 
mation, his social friendship was a thing to be greatly prized; 
and down deep in his heart, purposely concealed from the gaze 
of men, abode a love for the poor and friendless that will for- 
ever crown his name. For oppression of the weak by the pow- 
erful he had a deadly hatred, and the records of this body will 
show that in this Chamber his voice was oftenest raised for 
those who had no friend at court. Especially was he active 
and efficient in his services in behalf of the Indian. Their for- 
lorn condition as a people, their helplessness, and their surely 
coming doom awakened all his sympathy and loving service; 
he had gone deep into their hi.story and traditions, and no man 
who ever sat in this Chamber had a closer knowledge of the 
Indian than he. 

On this occasion I may perhaps be indulged in a personal 
reminiscence only because it allows an opportunity to disclose 
in a most imperfect way a wonderful phase of the character of 
our departed friend. A year and a half ago I was surprised 
and honored with an invitation to accompany him on a trip to 
the Indian Territory. Why he should thus choose me as a 
companion I have never yet divined. The purpose of this trip 
I could not then imagine. In due time, however, we ended 
our journey by rail near the little town of Dewey and were 
taken several miles away, where the Delaware Indians were 
holding their annual thanksgiving or harvest home. This is 
the one week of the year when they return to the worship of 
the older days, when they are in close communion with the 
Great Spirit, and when the Manitou is to them a living, 



Address of Mr. Clark^ of Wyoming 83 

breathing presence. For two nights from dark to dawn we 
witnessed their communion with the Great Spirit; for two 
nights from sunset to sunrise, perhaps for the first time, white 
men were present as the fast-fading race was carrying out a 
ritual which was old when all modern ceremonies in this land 
were young. The details of that meeting I can not here in 
honor recount. The solemnity of that occasion I can not here 
depict, but I can say that at the rising sun, with an impressive- 
ness indescribable and with an earnestness impossible except 
to a passing race, Matthew Stanley Quay was crowned, and 
probabl}^ as the last, with the royal honors of the Delawares. 
This was an expression of thankfulness for all the years he had 
labored for that people, an evidence of their appreciation of his 
great services in their behalf. I may be pardoned this remi- 
niscence, and only u.se it as a side light of the character of our 
departed friend. Great himself, he was ever mindful of the 
lowly. Secure in his high place in the councils of the nation, 
he despised not the appeal of the helpless. Strong in battle 
for himself, time was always found for earnest effort for the 
weak and the lowly of the land. And I could almost hear upon 
the sorrowing winds the wail of that people when thej' learned 
that the friend upon whom they had leaned was no more. 

And, Mr. President, Matthew Stanley Quay, brave as 
he was in the defense of his country and upon the field of 
battle, successful as he was in personal affairs and political 
aim, yet his highest and sweetest epitaph will be written by 
that fast-disappearing race which appreciated his .services and 
by the poor and needy who were tendered his help. 



84 Life a fid Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of California. 

Mr. President: By the death of Matthew Stanley Quay 
the country has lost one of its most patriotic citizens, the Sen- 
ate a very distinguished member, the State of Pennsylvania a 
loyal son, and the Republican party one of its strong leaders. 
The character of the man was manifested early in his distin- 
guished career. In whatever he undertook there was found to 
be as the basis of his action .sturdy loyalty — loyalty to his 
country, to his native State, and to his friends. He was 
among the first who took up arms for the preservation of the 
Union at the time of the civil war, and .served with the Army 
until his great ability caused him to be withdrawn from the 
field for important work elsewhere, though still on military 
lines. The record which he established for himself as a sol- 
dier is an enviable one, for it is the result of heroism for a 
great cause, personal bravery, and an unusual aptitude for 
military affairs, and his deeds won for him the special com- 
mendation of Congress for courage and capacity on the field of 
battle. Although the hardships of a hard campaign so broke 
down his health that he felt compelled to resign his command, 
when the first guns of the battle of Fredericksburg were heard 
he in.sisted on serving as a volunteer aid, against the protest 
of the surgeons and of his friends, and he was conspicuous 
throughout the conflict for his daring and his resistless energy. 
Of such stuff were made the soldiers who won Shiloh, .scaled 
lyookout Mountain, fought through the Wilderness, and 
brought victory at Gettysburg. It was the inspiration of 
patriotism which forced all the.se men to deeds of valor, and 
in none was this inspiration more potent than in Matthew 
Stanley Quay. 



Address of Mr. Perkins^ of California 85 

Although in his Senatorial career he was not among those 
who made their influence felt b}^ words upon the floor, never- 
theless his influence upon legislation was very great, and he 
became one of the men who had to be reckoned with on all 
important occasions. B3' his wide knowledge of conditions 
and his firm grasp on facts, he formed opinions which he firmly 
held and which commanded the respect of all who knew him. 
Whatever work he took in hand he pushed with the utmost 
vigor. His aid was therefore sought b}' those who were deepl\- 
interested in measures pending before the Senate. 

But it was in respect to legislation affecting Pennsylvania, 
the State that he represented, that the energy and genius of 
Senator Quay for legislation were most manifest. Lo^-alty to 
his State and its interests was his predominating characteristic, 
and in nothing was this fact more conspicuous than in the case of 
measures which affected economic conditions in that great manu- 
facturing community. It was with a very jealous eye that he 
watched the trend of public opinion on economic (juestions, and 
was prompt to take action wherever, there was a tendency to 
advocate measures that would affect the great business inter- 
ests of our country, and especially those of his own State. 

He had seen the development of unparalleled prosperity under 
the influence of laws which protected producers and the work- 
ers in the raw materials of commerce; he had watched the 
rapid and wide-spread material prosperity among the people; 
the increase among all classes of comforts and luxuries of all 
kinds; the growth of the old cities and the birth and wonderful 
progress of new ones, and he wished to maintain the conditions 
which had made possible the vast changes that had occurred 
under his observation. When, therefore, he became one of 
the great champions of the protective policy, it was with all 
these proofs of its efficacy before his eyes, and his belief that 
what had done so much for one State woukl do as nnich for 



86 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

others, made him one of the chief advocates of a protective 
tariff, and caused him to oppose with all his strength any 
movement that would, if successful, open to competition by 
foreign laborers the markets of the United States, which had 
been created by his own constituents, and which of right, he 
believed, belonged to them. 

Those members of the Senate who recall the debates on the 
tariff bills which have been before Congress will remember 
that no member, perhaps, showed a more extended or minute 
knowledge of the industries of the United States than did 
Senator Quay. Hardly a schedule came up for discussion 
that did not bring from him remarks showing the close stud}^ 
he had given to the subject and his exact knowledge of it. 
He was apparently as familiar with conditions in California as 
in Pennsylvania, and showed as thorough an understanding 
of the needs of the cattle raisers of Montana as of those of the 
ironworkers of his own State. 

What was his interest in the great policy which has done 
.so much for the United States w^as made evident on the 
occasion of the discu.ssion of the Wilson-Gorman \)\\\, when, 
although infrequently addressing the Senate, he began a 
speech which was one of the longest on record, and which 
he was prepared to extend to any length until his object was 
accomplished — the acceptance of the protective amendments 
which had 1)een added to the bill, which he believed v/ere 
vitally important to the prosperity and welfare of the country. 
That his object 'was attained is a matter of history. 

But it was as a general on the great political battle ground 
that he first became prominent and where he displayed that 
courage and sagacity which so often brought success to him. 
He had served in the Army during the civil war, and in 
action had manifested courage of the highest order and mili- 
tary judgment that would have given him a high rank in 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 87 

that service. But the exercise of these quahties was trans- 
ferred to the field of pohtics, on which contests require the 
exercise of just those powers which are required by a general 
in the field— exact and discriminating knowledge of conditions, 
ability to take advantage of them, courage to carry into 
execution daring plans, persistence in carrying them out, 
resourceful in surmounting unexpected obstacles, knowledge 
of men and ability to attach them to himself, so that they 
make his aims their own. 

He was one of the greatest political strategists of his time, 
and won battles that a weaker, less courageous, or less re- 
sourceful man would have lost. His genius for organization 
and execution took in the entire country. He was able to 
unite wide and diverse elements into a solid, homogeneous 
force which became irresistible. This genius made him the 
most powerful political factor in his own great State, of 
which he was so proud, and of which he thus spoke: 

If this Union of States were dissolved, Pennsylvania could stand alone 
and be a nation unto herself. Out of her own bowels she could spin the 
web of her prosperity. She could place in the field and clothe, equip and 
subsist an army of one^quarter of a million of men. She could buil.l at 
her own shipyards her own navy, plate her ships from her own artnor 
plants arm them with guns from her own gun factories and send them 
out on the Atlantic and the Great Lakes. In her indu.stries she could 
levy tribute on all her sister States and almost all foreign countries. . I am 
proud there is not a drop of blood in my veins that is not Pennsylvania 
blood two centuries old. I thank God I am a Pennsylvanian. 

One of the most remarkable qualities of the late Senator 
Quay was his ability to inspire devotion in his followers and 
friends which never faltered, and which gave him a strength 
that nothing could break down. It was a personal devotion, a 
personal affection, I might say, founded on his personal charac- 
teristics, which inspired confidence and esteem. It was another 
of those qualities which all great generals must pos.se.ss if they are 
to handle armies successfully. An army di.strustful is an army 



88 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

half defeated. But in the many political battles in which Senator 
Quay was engaged he never doubted nor had cause to doubt 
the mettle or the loyalty of his followers. He was as true to 
them as they were to him. Perhaps this loyalty to his friends 
was the cause of their unfaltering trust in him. That is a trait 
which inspires respect and affection for any man who pos.sesses it, 
and it is a source of strength, aye, of confidence, in time of need. 

Senator Quay's friendships were lifelong. Only treachery 
of the rankest kind could cause him to withdraw from anyone 
who had once gained the great privilege of his friendship and 
his confidence. He could harbor no resentment on account of 
politics or political differences if honestly held and honorably 
maintained. The most notable example of this fine trait of 
character was seen on the occasion when an intimate colleague 
voted against seating him when appointed Senator by the gov- 
ernor of Pennsylvania. Not a word of reproach had Senator 
Quay for him — only a kind and pitying reference to the failing 
health of his old friend. He greeted him as kindly afterwards 
as though he had on that occasion been his most stanch and 
loyal supporter. 

I wish to bear testimony of my association with Senator 
Quay upon many important conniiittees of the Senate, one of 
the tnost important, perhaps, being the Committee on Appro- 
priations, by which appropriations are framed for the various 
branches of the Government. He brought to the business of 
that committee his wide research, and gave to every item there 
presented the same knowledge and painstaking thought that he 
would have given to his own private business. He was loyal 
and true to the interests of the Government. His thoughts 
were not circumscribed by any sectional boundary. He gave 
the same broad and patriotic consideration to every measure 
that came before that great committee that he gave to every 
])ublic question upon which he was called lo act. 



Address of Mr. Perkins, of California 89 

Passing a long life in active politics and often in political 
battles of great moment. vSenator Quay was nearly always 
viewed from that standpoint alone. That one whose energies 
were devoted to the greatest of all games, which usually 
absorbs all other ambition, had a domestic side to his life which is 
very touching to contemplate, is, though it should not be, a mat- 
ter for some surprise. But that the Quay of public life was not 
the Quay of private life is well knowm to his intimate friends. 
In his home and among his personal friends all the gentler quali- 
ties of manhood stood forth and made him a most engaging per- 
sonality. Then politics were cast aside and often literature took 
its place, for Senator Quay was a voluminous reader of the best 
products of the human mind, and his knowledge of the great 
writers was wide and minute. His private library was one of 
the best in his State, and that it was put to good use was abun- 
dantly proven on many social visits of his intimate friends. 

Senator Quay for many months prior to his death appeared 
to realize that his days were numbered. On several occasions 
when I had greeted him with kind words of encouragement, 
after his return from Florida, where he had been to recuperate, 
he replied. No, that he never expected to again regain his good 
health, but that he had come back to his station of duty and 
would remain as long as he was able to sit at his desk. He 
labored daily in his official capacity and put his business affairs 
in order, providing for those who were near and dear to him, 
not forgetting to secure another position for his secretar>\ who 
had been with him for many years, i)Ut whose services he said 
he would no longer require. Then patiently he awaited the 
last summons that must sooner or later come to us all. 

"Death is no surprise to the wise man; he is always ready 
to depart, having learned to anticipate the time when he must 
make up his mind to take this last journey." 



90 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia. 

Mr. President: The Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, of 
Pennsylvania, having passed some years beyond the allotted 
period of three score years and ten, has now passed from the 
scenes of his earthly labors. On the same day we were sworn 
into the Senate, now well-nigh eighteen years ago. An inci- 
dent of marked kindness and courtesy on his part extended 
to me soon prepossessed me toward him, and our association 
ripened into cordial and abiding friendship. He was a strong 
man, of many fine faculties and traits of character. He had 
the capacity for engaging and attaching to himself disinter- 
ested friends — a quality which bespeaks the fiber of the man 
more than words. He hated shams. Hypocrisy he despised. 
His opinions as a rule were boldly declared. His positions 
were resolutely maintained. His enemies he defied; his friends 
he cherished. He was without ostentation, and of little vanity, 
but he had great pride and great courage. His ambition was 
to do things rather than to say things, but whatever he said 
he said well. Concentrative in his purpo.ses and con.structive 
in his plans, he paid great attention to the great questions 
that came to this body for consideration, and he engaged 
but little in minor controversies. He focused his energies on 
decisive points. He was a fighter when a fight was on, but 
he was not disputatious, intermeddlesome, or pugnacious. 
Whenever he spoke he showed comprehensive grasp of his 
subject in all of its relations. He was a thoroughly informed 
and well-read man, but without literary pretensions or affecta- 
tions. He exerted large influence as a Senator, not (jnly upon 



Address of Mr. Daniel^ of Virginia 91 

his part)^ but as well upon his colleagues, without regard to 
political afl&liation. This influence was due to his genial 
disposition, to his manly character, to his common sense, and 
to the clearness and wide range of his vision. He was broad 
in his views of all questions. Like most men of mark, he 
had risen to distinction, station, and power by slow but pro- 
gressive stages and through hard encounters. Such experi- 
ences are the best of all educators. The leaders of men are 
their receptive pupils. 

A sketch of Senator Quay is given in a Pennsj^lvania paper, 
from which I extract this striking passage : 

In Beaver they say that his chief characteristic was will power; the 
second, infinite patience and genius for details; the third, a great power 
to compromise differences in his party; the fourth, to keep his word; the 
fifth, to be silent and study his books when there was nothing else to do, 
for he was a great reader. His home in Beaver was that of the student 
and scholar; there was nothing superficial about it, for the owner abhorred 
mere show. His possessions were all impressive tributes to the refinement 
and good taste which brought them together. His pictures, his statuarv, 
and his books cost him a fortune, and it is doubtful if there is anj-where 
in the State a private library the equal of that in the modest house in 
Beaver. Senator Quay studied his books with a wholesome appetite for 
what was in them and never neglected them. He had everything in litera- 
ture worth having which it had been possible to obtain. He had very 
rare editions of different authors, and was particularly energetic in his 
collection of works bearing upon religious history and political economv. 

The public get, at best, but glimpses of the men who serve 
them on the public stage, and they are oftentimes, if not for the 
most part, superficial, false, and misleading glimpses. Senator 
Quay was known of all men for his ability, but few knew, such 
was his retiring disposition, the depth and scope of his mind, 
the richness of his cultivation, the ripeness of his reflections, 
or the graces of his amiable and sociable nattire. 

His genius was typical of that of his people. His public 
career reflects the characteristics of the great middle State of 
Pennsylvania, of which he was a son and which he represented. 



92 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

It is a State where agriculture, mining, manufacturing, com- 
merce, learning, and science have advanced as nearly abreast of 
each other as in any place upon the earth's surface. The com- 
munity is thrifty, prosperous, and progressive through the 
combination of diversified resources, abounding energies, and 
steadfast purpose. The evenness of its development in multi- 
tudinous departments of enterprise has imparted to the massive 
structure stamina and proportion. Solid rather than showy; 
steady rather than impulsive; moderate and self-contained 
rather than salient or effusive; practical rather than theoretical; 
matter of fact rather than romantic; the people of Pennsylvania 
have applied their arts and efforts to the utilities and refine- 
ments of life rather than to those things which appeal to the 
imagination and captivate the fancy. They present a rare pic- 
ture of industrial activity and of domestic peace and reposeful 
power. At the base of their history is the stirring and sturdy 
blood of the colonial pioneers, toned, as it were, wnth the peace- 
ful mood of Penn and the practical wisdom of Franklin. 

In their background rises the great story of the Revolution, 
from Independence Hall to Germantown, Brandy wine, and 
Valley Forge. Through all the gradations of their progress 
the American spirit has pervaded their atmosphere, adding to 
the freedom and grace of our national ideals their substantial, 
social, and material attainments. Schools of fanaticism and hot- 
beds of anarchy find no congenial resort in such communities, 
and Pennsylvania may take to herself the credit of having sent 
to the national councils as a rule broad-minded, well-balanced, 
and American-hearted men. Matthew Stanley Quay was 
of this type. Brave soldier, as he had been in the Union 
Army, he brought here neither hatred, resentment, nor dislike 
of adversaries equally as brave. Northerner, as he was, he had 
no unkind word to say, no unkind thoughts to cherish, against 



Address of Mr. Daniel, of Virginia 93 

his equally honest Southern neighbors. Republican, as he was, 
no sectional hate, no sectional line, marred his individual sym- 
pathies or behttled his patriotic purpose. Partisan devotee, as 
he was, he cursed not those equally partisan of ideals opposed 
to his ideals. While he gave much to party of organizing 
genius and laborious toil, he did not give to party what was 
meant for mankind. 

During the term of President Harrison a measure called the 
''force bill" seemed on the eve of passage in this body, and 
many beheved it was fraught with woe and horror to the people 
of the South and of permanent detriment to American institu- 
tions. Senator Qu.w, though tied in every way to the Admin- 
istration, exercised an independent and powerful influence 
against it. It was a period of passion that has now gone by. 
His wisdom did much to avert what I .solenuily believe would 
have proved an unspeakable national calamity. Even memory 
of that episode is fading away, and I trust that I touch no 
sensitive chord in referring to it on this occasion. My object 
is solely to point to a great service which Senator Quay— and 
I may say also his colleague, Senator Don Cameron— then ren- 
dered not only to the South, but to all of our countrymen; and 
to record here for my part a sense of gratitude, which my peo- 
ple share, and which will quicken my heart to its last pulsation. 
But a few days ago the President of the United States made 
a remarkable speech in New York. It contained many noble 
and patriotic sentiments which the good heart, the good sen.se, 
and the restored good feeling of the American people will ap- 
preciate all over the country. I felt, as I laid down the paper 
which published it, as if I saw swinging inward upon its hinges 
the gate that closed a long and painful era. It is my plea.sing 
thought of Senator Quay to-day that he did nothing to prolong 
the era that has gone by, but on the contrary did nmch to 



94 J-ifc and Character of Matthezv S. Quay 

mitigate its evils and to shorten its existence. I could pay to 
his memory no better and no sincerer tribute and for my coun- 
try could express no better wish than by saying at his open 
grave, "God grant that the departed era may return no more 
to our country." I feel that in this wish I utter the noble aspi- 
rations of him whom we sincerely mourn to-day, and who, 
thou J h "being dead, yet speaketh." 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 95 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minmsota. 

Mr. President: I shall not dwell or enlarge on the details 
of Senator Quay's life or work. Those who knew him longer, 
more intimately, and are more familiar wdth his work than I, 
can much better acquit themselves of this task. The most I 
can venture is a brief outline, modest and conservative, of the 
man, his environment, and the epos of his life. There are a 
few monuments in a man's life that give us, when we ascertain 
them, his true boundaries and his real potentialities. These, 
however, should be viewed in the light of the times, the region, 
and the people where he dwelt. The coffin and the shroud 
measure the mortal part of the man. On this occasion we 
measure, as posterity will measure, the immortal, that which 
was not dust, nor will return to the dust. 

Flattery and undue praise was foreign to the nature of 
Senator Quay, and his spirit will rebel against tributes and 
tokens of that kind. 

Lecky, in his history of England in the eighteenth century, 
in referring to the American Army in the Revolutionary war, 
states: 

No troops in that Army had shown themselves more courageous, more 
patient and more devoted than the Pennsylvania line. Its privates and 
noncommissioned officers consisted chiefly of immigrants from the North 
of Ireland, etc. 

In another place, in describing the feeling of the people of 
the Carohnas toward England, he states: 

The Irish Presbyterians, on the other hand, appear to have been every- 
where bitterlv anti-English, and outside of New England it is probable 
that they did more of the real fighting of the Revolution than any othtr 
class. 



96 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

While there was a large element of the Scotch- Irish in the 
Continental Army, there was another contingent among them 
composed of settlers in the eastern valleys and foothills of the 
Alleghenies, the Blue Ridge, and the great Smoky Mountains, 
who, during the Revolutionary war, pressed westward over 
the mountains and, in the face of cruel and crafty savages, won 
and secured for our nation during that struggle a domain as 
large as and far richer than the theater of war between the 
mountains and the seaboard. 

It was only once, but that in a most notable instance — the 
battle of Kings Mountain — that this contingent of Presbyterian 
Scotch-Irish met the English armies face to face in battle array. 

In this encounter, which occurred at a most critical time in 
the cour.se of the war in the .southern colonies, when the}' were 
prostrated and well-nigh subdued, the moinitaineers were com- 
pletel}' successful, and their victory not only relieved Georgia 
and the Carolinas but forced Cornwallis to retire into Virginia 
and ultimately led to his final doom. This race has not only 
been the cradle of brave, irrepressible, and fearless pioneers, 
frontiersmen, and warriors, but it has also furnished our coun- 
try some of the foremost men at the bar, on the bench, in the 
halls of legislation, and in the executive departments, State and 
national. 

As the Vikings of Norway, tran.splanted to Normandy, and 
from thence as Normans to England, left their impress for all 
times upon the Anglo-Saxon, so have the Covenanters of 
Scotland tran.splanted to Ireland and from thence as Scotch- 
Irish to America, left their perpetual impress upon the descend- 
ants of the Puritans, the Cavalier, and the Quaker in our own 
country. 

From the very loins of this Presbyterian Scotch-Irish race, 
famous in history, legend, and .song, came vSenator Quay, a true 



Address of Mr. Nelson^ of Mtmiesota 97 

type and representative of the dasli and the virile vigor so 
pronounced the world over in this race. The son of a clergy- 
man, he had in his childhood and youth all the advantages of 
a Christian home, and he remained faithful and loyal to the 
church of his fathers and ancestors to the end of his life. His 
gifts of ancestry and birth vi^ere not only schooled in the faith 
of his fathers, they were also blessed and fortified with a 
thorough academic and collegiate education, supplemented by 
a training in the law for the profession of a lawyer. He 
became, and was, a man of culture and literary tastes — an 
extensive reader of the best works, who digested, remembered, 
and profited in a great measure from what he read. In many 
of the choicest pieces of our literature he sought and found a 
tonic to rest his mind and quiet his nerves from the strain and 
tension incident to an aggressive, offensive, and defensive 
political life — largely thrust upon him by .selfish political 
opponents. 

True to one of the mo.st notable characteristics of his blood 
and race, when the civil war broke out he became a .soldier 
under the banners of the Union, and as such he demonstrated 
in full measure that he was possessed of the fearless and mar- 
tial spirit of his forbears who fought at Derry, at Aughrim, and 
on the Boyne. 

At the close of the civil war Senator Quay entered the politi- 
cal arena in his State. This was inevitable to one of his 
make-up, blood, and race. There were no more frontiers to be 
explored and conquered, no more wars to participate in — there 
was only one promising field to enter, in which the grinding 
and prosy tameness of our complicated industrial life did not 
prevail, in which the spirit and energy of the heroic mind could 
find vent and sphere, the realm of politics. Greater men than 
Senator Quay have been creatures of this inevitable impulse 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 7 



98 Life and CJiai-actej'- of Matthezv S. Quay 

and necessity. Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, and for a brief 
time a soldier. His true spiritual affinity was in neither of 
these callings. He was restless, and found no opening for his 
energy and no rest for his spirit except in the political arena, 
and in this field he grew spiritually and intellectually, as he 
covild not have grown in an}^ other sphere, until he became one 
of the greatest and noblest characters inscribed on the pages 
of human history. 

Unfortunately for Senator Quay, when he entered the polit- 
ical arena in his State his party was then and for years had 
been divided into two factions, with more or less of the polit- 
ical rancor prevailing in such cases. Under such circum- 
stances one has to take sides; he can not well remain neutral 
and be an active participant. And so it came to pass that 
vSenator Quay became, in a measure, the legatee of this divi- 
sion and rancor, and he was a victim of this legacy in one 
form or another to a greater or less extent during a large 
portion of his political career. But the opposition to him came 
mainly from a small coterie of politicians jealous of his energy 
and power, rather than from the masses of the people. How 
strong he was among them and what confidence the}^ had in 
him appeared when he was the candidate of his part)' for State 
treasurer in 1885, when he received the largest majorit}' ever 
given in his State for a State officer save once, when the Dem- 
ocratic party was divided. His opponents bitterly maligned 
him through the public press and otherwise. The attacks did 
him less harm at home and in his own State, where he was 
best known and understood, than abroad, but it can not be 
denied that in other States where he was not so well known 
the maligners had, to some extent, poisoned the public mind 
against him. I had myself acquired a faint taint of the virus 
when I entered this Chamber, but I had no .sooner made the 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota 99 

acquaintance of Senator Quay and learned to know him as he 
really was and to understand his true worth as a man and as 
a legislator than I realized how utterly groundless were the 
charges of his enemies and how basely and wickedly they had 
maligned him. It is the lot and good fortune of some of our 
l)ublic men who enter the sea of politics to have smooth, calm, 
and unobstructed sailing from the first to last, while others 
less fortunate encounter, as it were, a very hurricane from the 
beginning and are seldom in placid waters. But the craft that 
outrides all storms and finally enters the harbor undi.smantled 
and shipshape is surely of as sound material and of as sub- 
stantial make-up as the craft that never encounters a storm. 

The strong, manly, and rugged character of Mr. Quay never 
appeared to greater advantage than in meeting the attacks of 
his traducers. He bore with serene dignity and quiet stoicism 
the onslaughts of his political opponents, striking back or ward- 
ing off a blow not with the blare of trumpets nor the beating of 
drums, but in a quiet, self-contained Cromwellian manner that 
won the respect if not the approval of his enemies. Yielding, 
mild-mannered, pliant, and drifting men encounter little strife 
and have few adversaries, while strong, rugged, aggressive, and 
progressive natures are never at rest, never lack enemies and 
traducers. Who had more vindictive and malevolent traducers 
in his lifetime than that foremost type of his race. Andrew 
Jackson? He outlived and confounded them all. And so has 
Senator Quay outlived and confounded those who were ever 
blaming, ever belittling him. He had a long career and was a 
vigilant and potent factor in this body. Few wielded greater 
influence. "One is AUfather, but many are His messengers," 
said the great Swedish poet. 

Two classes of men, each in its own peculiar way, bring about 
legislative results in this body. The one class, of few words, 



lOO Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

and little participating in debate, formulates and in committee 
digests, prepares, and reports measures, great and small, for the 
final action of the entire body; while the other class, prone to 
debate, elucidates with its oratory all the intricacies and mys- 
teries of legislation. The latter class cuts a bigger figure on the 
public stage, fills more space in the Record and in the public 
press; is, as a rule, better known among the public outside of 
this Chamber, and by its oratory largely smooths the wheels 
of legislation and eliminates much of the prosiness that apper- 
tains thereto, and on the whole gives the public a better under- 
standing of the same. The work of the former class, necessary 
and important as it may be, is, nevertheless, not so conspicu- 
ous, is less known to the public outside of this Chamber, 
though well known and appreciated here, occupies less space 
in the Record and in the press of the country, and is oftentimes 
less thankless. 

Each of these classes is the complement and the necessity of 
the other, and it is the persistent and effective work of the two 
classes combined working as a harmonious whole that gives the 
nation "the legislative results demanded and required for the 
welfare and the progress of our great, our progressive, and our 
ever-expanding country. 

Senator Quay was beyond all question one of the foremost 
members of the first-described of these classes. He was no 
orator in the conunon acceptation of the term. He was not 
without gifts as a debater, and yet few men in the Senate took 
less part in debate. But he was familiar with all the routine 
and detail of legislation, with the elements of our Constitution, 
and with the nature and scope of our Government and its his- 
tory. He knew the temper and could measure the wants and 
aspirations of the American people. He brought his vigorous 
and trained mind, with untiring spirit and energy, to bear. 



Address of Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota loi 

especially in committee work, upon the manifold and various 
problems of legislation that confront Congress. He could 
almost intuitively and instantaneously distinguish and separate 
the bad from the good, the chaff from the grain, the dross from 
the gold. Few, if any, had a keener judgment or one less 
prone to err. He was a man of action rather than of words. 
He could plan and formulate a line of public policy with a wis- 
dom and prudence excelled by few, and having adopted the 
same, he had the rare faculty, in a high degree, of organizing 
and leading parliamentary support in its behalf. 

A measure may be carefully framed, thoroughly considered 
and prepared in committee, and duly supported in debate, and 
be intrinsically valuable and important, and yet it needs some- 
thing more to successfully steer it through the halls of legisla- 
tion. It needs organized, quiet, and persistent work from 
mouth to ear to remove the prejudice and dispel the ignorance 
that is not amenable to the efforts of the orator; and in this 
work, so often requisite and needed, no one excelled Senator 
OuAY. In quiet chats with his legislative associates he im- 
pressed upon them and convinced them of the wisdom and the 
necessity of the measure in hand; in other words, he was the 
master of both the strategy and the tactics of wise and success- 
ful legislation. It is oftentimes as much the duty of a good 
legislator to fearlessly defeat bad measures as it is to vigorously 
press good ones. And in this task vSenator Quay was never a 
laggard, never backward, never halting. If he was convinced 
that a measure was vicious and bad, he never hesitated in put- 
ting his heel on it. He was at all times the true and most 
effective helpmeet of the parliamentary orator— the staff on 
which he leaned, and without which his periods would often- 
times yield but empty echoes. He was not prodigal of prom- 
ises, but ever prodigal in keeping faith and in loyalty to his 
friends and supporters. 



I02 Life and Character' of Matthew S. Quay 

He was a man of plain tastes and quiet, unassuming man- 
ners, as becomes a man of ability and real worth. His lot was 
cast in that world of unfeeling and tempestuous politics which 
we often criticise and deplore, but which we are loath to keep 
aloof from or eschew. There is a charm in the very odor and 
vision of a political battle that enthralls and assuages the pains 
of the wounds inflicted. He was so completely victorious in 
his last political combat that even his enemies became prone to 
forgive and forget. 

And when so victorious, as ever in all his strife, he did not 
exult over the vanquished, but calmly and serenely seemed to 
say to them: 

Here's a sigh to those who love me, 

And a smile to those who hate ; 
And whatever sky's above me, 

Here's a heart for every fate. 

He died in the .seventy-first year of his life, after nearly fifty 
years in the public service, loved by his friends and respected 
by his adversaries; at peace with all the world and with his 
God; the great son of a great Commonwealth that will cherish 
his memory as one of the bravest, most fearless, and most loyal 
of all her great sons. 



Address of Mr. Cockrdl, of Missouri 103 



Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri. 

Mr. President: Again the Senate of the United States, in 
the midst of the pressing and onerous labors of the last session 
of the Fifty-eighth Congress, lays aside its legislative duties to 
pay its tribute of respect, friendship, and honor to the memory 
of Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, late a Senator in this 
Chamber from the State of Pennsylvania, who died at his 
home in Beaver on the evening of May 28, 1904- 

He was born at Dillsburg, York County, Pa., on September 

30, 1833- 

His ancestors had lived in that State since 1715- His father 
was a distinguished Scotch-Irish clergyman. He was named 
for Gen. Matthew Stanley, an eminent citizen of Brandywine 
Manor. He graduated with distinction from Washington and 
Jefferson College at the age of 17. 

After graduation he traveled, taught school, lectured, studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar in 1854; was appointed pro- 
thonotaryof Beaver County in 1855, and elected in 1856 and 
again in 1859. From this time on to the day of his death he 
was an active participant in all State and national affairs, and 
was a loyal and stanch adherent during the civil war to the 
integrity of the Union. He was a lieutenant in the Tenth 
Pennsylvania Reserves; was colonel of the One hundred and 
thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers ; was lieutenant-colonel 
and assistant commissary-general of his State ; was military 
secretary to the famous war governor, Curtin. 1861-1865. He 
proved his personal courage on the battlefield through the fierce 
carnage at Fredericksburg after his resignation as colonel of his 
regiment had been sent in, and was complimented in general 



I04 Life and Character oj Matthew S. Q^tay 

orders for his conspicuous gallantry and awarded a medal for 
his braver}'. 

He was a member of his State legislature from 1865 to 1867; 
secretary of the Com m or, wealth, 1 872-1 878; recorder of the 
city of Philadelphia and chairman of the Republican State com- 
mittee, 1878-79 and 1902-3; was again secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, 1 879-1 882; a delegate at large to the national 
conventions of 1872, 1876, and 1880; was elected State treasurer 
in 1885, and a member of the Republican national committee 
and chosen chairman in 1888, and conducted the successful 
Presidential campaign of that year in the election of Benjamin 
Harrison as President. He was a delegate to the Republican 
national conventions of 1892, 1896, and 1900, and was elected 
to the United States Senate as a Republican, to succeed Hon. 
John I. Mitchell, and took his seat in this Chamber on March 
4, 1887; was reelected in 1893, and was defeated in 1899 for 
reelection by a deadlock throughout the session of the legis- 
lature, and was appointed by the governor of his State to fill 
the vacancy caused by the failure of the legislature to elect, but 
his appointment was not recognized by the Senate. 

On the day his appointment was rejected by the Senate he 
was nominated to be his own successor by the Republican State 
convention, and was reelected January 15, 1901, by a vote of a 
majority in each hou!5e, receiving a total of 130 votes to 118 
votes for other aspirants, and took his seat here on January 17, 
1 90 1. His term would have expired on March 3, 1905. In 
the Senate Colonel Quay rendered valuable service on many 
important committees. His life was unique and remarkable. 
Although a semiinvalid phy.sically during a large portion of his 
public career, his life was a strenuous one, under high tension, 
sufficient, apparently, to have worn out the most robust health. 



Address of Mr. Cockrell, of Missouri 105 

His hold on power in a great State like Pennsylvania through 
so many contests— State and national— and for so many years 
was most wonderful. 

He had a genius for party organization and management, and 
was recognized as one of the most successful political managers 
in the country. He was cool, self-possessed, resourceful in 
expedients, holding his forces thoroughly in hand; unquailing 
under opposition or criticism, diplomatic in avoiding the im- 
practicable and the unwise, tactful in healing breaches, strong 
in political strategy, and skilled in party management. He 
doubtless made mistakes, but he was quick in countermove- 
ments to overcome their effects. Napoleon made mistakes and 
met his Waterloo. Quay made mistakes, but he triumphed 
over them and went down only before the unconquerable foe 
of human life — death. 

My first personal acquaintance with Colonel Quav was when 
he entered the Senate in 1887. Our personal relations were 
pleasant and agreeable. 

He was sociable, kind, ever ready to do any friendly act, 
easily approachable, gentle in bearing and manner and drew 
his. friends closely to him, and was invincible when personally 
appealing to the people. 

He was a great reader, and was well informed on all public 
questions, was fond of his valuable library, and was a ripe 
scholar and well versed in all branches of literature. His 
strong hold on the people of his State was made most mani- 
fest by the attendance at his burial— at Beaver— and by the 
expressions of sorrow, sympathy, and friendly remembrance 
and devotion. 

Since I entered this Senate, on the 4th day of March, 1S75. 
this is the thirty-ninth time that the Senate has been called 



io6 Life iDid Character of Matthew S. Quay 

to pay just tribute to the memory of Senators who have died 
while members of the Senate. Senator Quay was the thirty- 
eighth Senator, in point of time, who so died, the distin- 
guished and venerable Senator Hoar, from Massachusetts, 
being the thirty-ninth and last one. Their names and the 
times of their deaths are as follows: 

Forty-fourth Congress, first session, Andrew Johnson, of 
Tennessee, died July 31, 1875, during the recess. 

Forty-fourth Congress, first session. Orris S. Ferry, of Con- 
necticut, died November 21, 1875, during the recess. 

Forty-fourth Congress, first session, Allen T. Caperton, of 
West Virginia, died July 26, 1876, during the session. 

Forty-fifth Congress, first session, Oliver P. Morton, of In- 
diana, died November i, 1S77, during the session. 

Forty-fifth Congress, second session, Lewis V. Bogy, of Mis- 
souri, died September 20, 1877, during the recess. 

Forty-sixth Congress, second session, Zachariah Chandler, 
of Michigan, died November i, 1879, during the recess. 

Forty-sixth Congress, second session, George S. Houston, of 
Alabama, died December 31, 1879, during the holiday recess. 

Forty-sixth Congress, third se.ssion, Matthew H. Carpenter, 
of Wisconsin, died February 24, 1881, during the session. 

Forty-seventh Congress, first session, Ambrose E. Burnside, 
of Rhode Island, died August 13, 1881, during the recess. 

Forty-seventh Congress, second session, Benjamin H. Hill, 
of Georgia, died August 16, 1882, during the recess. 

Forty-eighth Congress, second session, Henry B. Anthony, 
of Rhode Island, died September 2, 1884, during the recess. 

Forty-ninth Congress, first session, John F. Miller, of Cali- 
fornia, died March 8, 1886, during the session. 

h'orty-ninth Congress, .second session, Austin F. Pike, of 
New Hampshire, died October 8, 1886, during the recess. 



Addi-ess of Mr. Cocky el I ^ of Missouri 107 

Forty-ninth Congress, second session, John A. Logan, of 
IlHnois, died December 26, 1886, during the holiday recess. 

Fifty-first Congress, first session, James B. Beck, of Ken- 
tucky, died May 3, 1890, during the session. 

Fifty-first Congress, second session, Ephraim K. Wilson, of 
Maryland, died February 24, 1891, during the session. 

Fifty-first Congress, second session, George Hearst, of Cali- 
fornia, died February 28, 1891, during the session. 

Fifty-second Congress, first session, Preston B. Plumb, of 
Kansas, died December 20, 1891, during the session. 

Fifty-second Congress, first session, John S. Barbour, of 
Virginia, died May 14, 1892, during the session. 

Fifty-second Congress, second session, Randall L. Gibson, 
of Louisiana, died December 15, 1892, during the session. 

Fifty-second Congress, second session, John E. Kenna, of 
West Virginia, died January 11, 1893, during the session. 

Fifty-third Congress, first session, Leland Stanford, of Cali- 
fornia, died June 21, 1893, during the recess. 

Fifty-third Congress, second session, Alfred Holt Colquitt, 
of Georgia, died March 26, 1894, during the session. 

Fifty-third Congress, second session, Zebulon B. Vance, of 
North Carolina, died April 14, 1894, during the session. 

Fifty-third Congress, second session, Francis B. Stockbridge, 
of Michigan, died April 30, 1894, during the session. 

Fifty-fifth Congress, first session, Isham G. Harris, of Tennes- 
see, died July 8, 1897, during the .ses.sion. 

Fifty-fifth Congress, first session, Joseph H. Earle, of South 
Carolina, died May 20, 1897, during the .session. 

Fift^'-fifth Congress, second ses.sion, James Z. George, of Mis- 
sissippi, died August 14, 1897, during the recess. 

Fifty-fifth Congress, second session, Edward C. Walthall, of 
Mississippi, died April 21, 1898, during the session. 



io8 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Fifty-fifth Congress, third session, Justin S. Morrill, of Ver- 
mont, died December 28, 1898, during the holiday recess. 

Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, Monroe I,. Hayward, of 
Nebraska, died December 5, 1899, before qualifying. 

Fifty-sixth Congress, second session, John Henry Gear, of 
Iowa, died July 14, 1900, during the recess. 

Fifty-sixth Congress, second session, Cushman K. Davis, of 
Minnesota, died November 27, 1900, during the recess. 

Fiftj'-seventh Congress, first session, James H. Kyle, of South 
Dakota, died July i, 1901, during the recess. 

Fifty-seventh Congress, first session, William J. Sewell, of New 
Jersey, died December 27, 1901, during the holiday recess. 

Fifty-seventh Congress, second session, James McMillan, of 
Michigan, died August 10, 1902, during the recess. 

Fifty-eighth Congress, second session, Marcus A. Hanna, of 
Ohio, died February 15, 1904, during the session. 

Fifty-eighth Congress, third session, Matthew S. Quay, of 
Pennsylvania, died May 28, 1904, during the recess. 

Fifty-eighth Congress, third session, George Frisbie Hoar, of 
Massachusetts, died September 30, 1904, during the recess. 

Senator Quay has been very much missed from this Chamber, 
where his views and opinions were appreciated and given due 
weight. In all the relations of life — as son, husband, father, 
citizen, soldier, and public official — he was kind, gentle, gener- 
ous, and true. To his faithful and devoted wife and children 
his death is an irreparable loss. To them we extend condolence 
and sympathy. 



Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama 109 



Address of Mr. Morgan, of Alabama. 

Mr. President: The Senate of the United States has a 
broader foundation of governing power than any pohtical bodk- 
in the world. In legislation it is the consort and equal of the 
House of Representatives. It is the immediate representative, 
with the House, of all the people, and shares with it in this 
power and in its responsibilities to the people, who supply and 
sustain and execute their powers of sovereignty through these 
tribunals, by elections conducted and controlled by the States. 
The people of the United States have, in addition to the 
rights, duties, and powers of citizenship, the sovereign right to 
rule in all the functions and through the instrumentalities of 

government. 

They constituted the Senate and conferred upon it this co- 
ordinate power of representation in lawmaking, and of protect- 
ing their rights and liberties within the domestic circle of the 

Union. 

They also extended these powers to all the wide field of for- 
eign affairs and relations; and to insure uniformity, justice, and 
safety in our intercourse with foreign powers they surrendered 
to the Federal Government this highest attribute of sovereignty 
which belonged to each State that formed the Union, and so 
guarded its exercise that no treaty or binding obligation could 
be made by their diplomatic agents without the consent of two- 
thirds of the Senate. And these sovereign States consented 
that such treaties should be the supreme law of the land, and 
that they should supersede and annul their constitutions and 
their laws when in conflict with them. 



no Life a?id Chaj^acter of Matthew S. Quay 

The sovereign people also conferred upon the Senate the right 
to confirm or reject all appointments to office, on the nomina- 
tion of the President, leaving the Senate as free to reject his 
selections as the President is to make them. 

The sovereign people also conferred upon the Senate, sitting 
as a court of impeachment, the power to expel from office any 
person holding civil office tnider the Government of the United 
States, without respect to its dignit}^ or grade, upon conviction 
by the Senate of high crimes or misdemeanors in office. 

The sovereign people also conferred upon the Senate a per- 
manent organization, wdthout lapse or provision for periodical 
renewal of its powers; and held its parliamentary control and 
the right to settle a tie vote in the hands of their chosen agent, 
the Vice-President of the United States, who is not a Senator, 
and is the only officer chosen by the people who has the right 
to participate in legislation. 

And distributing the powers of Senators equally among the 
States, without respect of their areas or population, the people 
gave to each State an equal suffrage in the Senate and provided 
that the equipoise should never be disturbed by an amendment 
of the Constitution. 

The sovereign people also gave to the Senate, acting concur- 
rently with the Hou.se of Representatives, the exclusive right 
to submit proposed amendments of the Constitution to the legis- 
latures of the States for their action and the calling of conven- 
tions to consider amendments to the Constitution proposed in 
a certain form. And they also gave the House the exclusive 
right to declare w^ar and the exclusive right to admit States 
into the Union. 

Every day since the Constitution was ordained and the Gov- 
ernment of the United States was established the Senate has 
been in full organization. Its membership has always been 



Address of Mr. Morgan.^ of Alabama iii 

ready to perform all its duties, and it has witnessed the coming 
in and going out of Presidents and Cabinets and Houses of 
Representatives and of the millions who compose the entourage 
of political parties, and the exigencies of foreign and domestic 
wars without the slightest change in its organization or the loss 
of any of the powers conferred upon it l)y the sovereign people. 

No aggregation of public trusts and powers equals this in its 
importance, its breadth, its permanency, and its responsibihties. 
It is only excelled by the majesty of the power of a great, free, 
independent, and self-governing people, whose sovereignty or- 
dained the Constitution, who protected their own liberties under 
a written charter and their peace and prosperity by requiring 
everyone, high or low, to obe\^ the laws. They bound their 
representatives by an oath of office, which is all the security 
they could exact from their servants. 

A Senator who contemplates the powers thus intrusted to 
him by such a people and is conscious of the pledge he has given 
to do his duty in obedience to the Constitution and the laws 
must feel a sense of incapacity- that needs more than human 
help. He must realize a weight of responsibility that will sober 
his judgment and dispel his prejudices, and he must regard the 
honor of the trust confided to him and its faithful performance 
as far exceeding in value any achievements that may be due to 
extraordinary genius or to towering ambition. 

In speaking of Matthew Stanlky Quay, if I were moved 
by the affection of long and intimate friendship I could not 
give him higher praise than to say that he performed the dut>- 
of an American Senator during a long service with faithful 
devotion and with such ability as has left on the records of the 
Senate most valuable proofs of efficient ser\'ice to the country. 

I need not attempt to present a resume of the prominent 
measures with which he was connected in his course in the 



112 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Senate. They include the whole great field of Congressional 
action. He made no pretensions to the arts of oratory that are 
so pleasing and so powerful in riveting the attention of the 
multitude on the spectacular features of hotly contested debate. 
He went deeper into matters of real consequence and did not 
stop to polish and put in glittering settings the gems that his 
delivery brought to light. It maj^ be truthfully said that no 
important matter escaped his attention and his careful exami- 
nation, and no public danger was presented that could escape 
his alert detection or drive him from his post of duty. 

I do not recall an instance in which he was not an important 
party to the settlement of contentions that concerned the wel- 
fare of the country, and I never knew him to attempt anything 
except the honorable reconciliation of those who were rash, 
angr}', or obstinate in their contentions. I have in mind some 
notable instances when his courage and forbearance and his 
genius for reconciliation saved measures and men from disas- 
trous consequences. 

I feel bound in duty to his memory, as a southern Senator, 
to refer to such interposition for the sake of justice and peace, 
and not to win applause, in which he has justly won the grati- 
tude of the people of the South. I refer to the measure 
known as the "force bill," which came over from the House 
and was discussed at great length and with bitterness in the 
Senate. I have heard that the distinguished author of that 
measure is satisfied that it was a mistaken policy, else I 
would not refer to it over the tomb of Matthew Stanley 
Quay, that needs peace and rest for the nurture of the innnor- 
telles that will surely grow upon it. Mr. Quay, at the critical 
moment, informed us of his purpose to displace that bill by a 
vote to take up another measure, and it was done. 



Address of Mr. Morgan.^ of Alabama 113 

No deeper sighs of relief ever came from human hearts than 
were given by milhons of people in gratitude to God for a great 
deliverance that was moved by this action of a quiet, deter- 
mined, and generous man, who sought no reward or praise for 
a simple act of manl}- friendship to a noble people. No heart 
in the South that is conscious of these facts will ever be 
embittered against the memory of Matthew Stanley Quay. 

Mr. Quay came to the Senate from the great State of 
Pennsylvania, for many years the citadel of the Democratic 
party. He had been a prime factor iu its change of political 
situation, and his leadership was resented there and in the 
South. He was classed, without sufficient reason, among the 
men who had violated the capitulation of Lee and Grant, and 
had waged a war of depredation in the South through political 
machinery, with the negro race as the driving power. I take 
pleasure in expressing in these obsequies my dissent to those 
unjust impeachments. 

Mr. Quay had rapidly grown into power in Pennsylvania 
and had spread his branches in the sunshine of veteran oaks 
that had long towered over the hills. Such intruders are not 
often welcome, nor do they always escape detraction. The 
South heard these criticisms and too eagerly gave credence to 
them. I had heard them and had no way to ascertain their 
value. 

When he intimated to me his wish to take the place of his 
predecessor as my Senatorial pair I was reluctant because of 
impressions I had received from clamors by some of his 
political a.ssociates, and made inquiry of a Democratic friend 
in the Senate who had been his college mate. He .still 
sundves, and few that live are more grieved at the death of 
Mr. Quay, in the zenith of his usefulness. He said, " I know 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 8 



114 ^^fi ^^^^ Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Quay well, and I have never known a truer or more manly 
and reliable man, and few that are more accomplished." 

We were paired in voting in the Senate during his entire 
service, and he honorably kept his pair. 

Although we were friends in a very pleasing sense, we never 
conferred about movements and conditions in the Senate, and 
never had a business transaction with each other. 

I admired him because he wore the blue when I wore the 
gray, and he did not think that I was a traitor, nor_^did I 
think he was a mercenary oppressor and adventurer. When 
he needed rest he sought the savannas and seaboard of the 
South, regaled himself with its rich fruits, and sought recrea- 
tion in fashing for tarpon — the silver king of southern seas. 
He loved nature, and such men do not usually love evil. 

I was never his guest, though his hospitable home was 
generously open and was a favorite resort for our people. 

I note these matters as showing the real man as he stood in 
the light of disinterested friendship and in the view of people 
who scanned him with close scrutiny. 

In his character of Senator and friend he was true and 
blameless, and has won for himself a fame that will grow 
greater and better as time advances. If these tests are not 
sufficient to establish the reputation of Matthew Stanley 
Quay on an enduring basis I know not w^here to look for a 
broader or more solid foundation for the posthumous reputa- 
tion of any man. 

Mr. Quay had eminent abihties in the conduct of public 
affairs. He was so modest in his demeanor and cared so little 
for public display that it was surprising that he had a wish 
to be in public life. But he had what are termed "reserved 
forces" that few men possess, and his powder to control men 



Address of Mr. Morga)i, of ^l/abauia 115 

by his quiet presence and the siilxUied expression of his will 
was extraordinary. 

He was small in stature and his bearing was quiet and 
unpretending, but his step was firm and was the expression 
of great will power. His decisions were prompt and conclu- 
sive, so that he impressed intelligent observers as a man of 
high purpose and forceful and intrepid action. 

There are many, very man}', poor people that knew him 
better than the proud or the great — knew him for his bene- 
factions. He held the silence of true charity in his alm.s- 
giving. Those whom he cared for thanked him with silent 
tears of gratitude, in which was mirrored the light of God's 
approving smile. In these little pathways of light there was a 
correspondence with the infinite. Its pathway ma}' have been 
shadowed as our way is shadowed, with a multitude of evils or 
even of sins, but the approving smile still found its way to his 
heart and cheered it when all else ma}- have been dark. 

When the Master healed the paralytic Gallilean, he said: 
" See thou tell no man; but go thy wa}'." 

This giver did not publish his loving charity toward the 
poor, except in his votes in the Senate. There it was always 
abundantly shown, not for the sake of praise, but for the sake 
of duty, especiall}' toward the Indian tribes. 

If good deeds, done without ostentation, are evidence of a 
living faith, Mr. Quay has many proofs of his right to re.st and 
peace. 

The .storm of life ha.s softened to a breeze 

That gently vvoos the lilies on his grave; 
No more of shipwreck, or of angry seas! 

God give him rest! Rest for the true and brave. 



ii6 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Platt, of New York. 

Mr. Penrose. Mr. President, on behalf of the senior Sen- 
ator from New York [Mr. Piatt], who is unavoidabl}' absent, 
I ask unanimous consent that the remarks which he had 
intended to make to the Senate upon this occasion be inserted 
in the Record as a part of the proceedings. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair hears no objection to 
the request of the Senator from Pennsylvania, and leave is 
granted. 

Mr. President: Others more familiar with Mr. Quay's 
public life and more competent to proclaim his signal public 
achievements have told us the story of his political career. It 
is a story which, while of commanding, not to say thrilling, 
interest, is a matter of more or less common knowledge. My 
purpose will be to touch briefly upon some of the underlying 
qualities of his life and to emphasize those characteristics to 
which, in my estimation, is attributable in large measure his 
ability to overcome obstacles and to accomplish the results for 
which he is justly famous in the annals of American political 
history. 

The value of a human life can not be measured by concrete 
achievement alone. Each life carries its inspiration to human- 
ity, and if there be any more significance in these memorial 
proceedings than an indication of desire to pay respectful trib- 
ute to the memory of beloved associates, it must be in the fact 
that there are here held up to view those human traits and 
qualities which inspire enuilation. 

It is doubtless true that the qualities more readily recognized 
by the superficial observer are not necessarily those which are 
dominant in any life; are not the qualities that denote the 



Address of Mr. Piatt, of Net o York 117 

peculiar value of a life. It is quite possible we may discover 
in the character of Mr. Quay obscure qualities that s^ve his 
life its significance. 

My relations with our departed colleague, contrary to the 
general belief, were intermittent rather than continuous, and 
were political rather than intimately personal. Yet during 
the.se infrequent and casual relationships I came to entertain 
for him respect as a man and admiration as a political leader. 
He impressed me as being both courageous and versatile, and 
it seemed as though his courage and versatility enabled him 
to seize upon a situation, whatever its complications, and to 
bear it and his cause and himself into the realm of success. 
He was a born political general, who could make a political 
campaign with the most meager facilities, without commi.ssary. 
and win through sheer ability and marvelous forcefulne.ss. 
We have many times known the opulent elements, the pow- 
erful corporations, of his State to be aligned against him, 
when he has fearlessl}^ gone to the people, as he has ex])re.ssed 
it, to "carry the fiery cross over the State." The people's 
hearts, responding to the touchstone of his being, gave him 
ever the majorities he sought. And herein resides an element 
with which the chronicler of this life must reckon. He had 
deep feeling himself and was not the cold, distant, grim-visaged 
man he appeared to be. A great student of human nature, 
he could approach an}- man, high or low, on his vulnerable 
side and gain a hearing and inspire friendship. As a political 
general he po.sse.ssed that clairvoyant ability to detect the 
weak points in his own and his enemies' lines, to strengthen 
his own and storm those of the enemy. He was not averse 
to fighting, and it is quite po.ssible he maintained his political 
strength by constantly going to the source of all strength — to 
the people — renewing his acquaintance with them and their 
affection for him. Certain it is that his political ]-)hiloso]-)liy 



ii8 Life a)id CJiaractcr of Matthew S. Quay 

predicated utility in contest, for he has often said that annual 
elections keep political parties strong and are wholesome for 
a State and a nation, bringing people close to, and enabling 
them to maintain an interest in, those questions vitally affect- 
ing their own welfare. I would not say that Mr. Quay delib- 
eratel}' sought contest, but when encountered he found in it 
a source of party and personal political strength. 

The man who makes a success of political leadership or wide 
administration is not necessarily the man who is concerned too 
closely with matters of detail. Detail may frequently becloud 
judgment, as dust caught by the wind and moved from its 
natural location may obscure vision. Mr. Quay, however, 
impres.sed me as being the exception proving the rule in this 
respect, for he had within his grasp the most minute detail of 
the complicated party machinery of his State. He planned his 
campaigns with great wisdom, never mustering his forces with- 
out feeling assured that he possessed the requisite votes; and 
if as a result of his estimate he appeared to lack those votes, 
he would proceed intelligently to gain them. He was a man 
of great tenacity- of purpose. He never wasted effort upon 
chimera and never suffered delusion to pcssess his mind; but 
he never abandoned the effort to accomplish any object upon 
which his judgment had favorabl}' passed. If the means of 
its accomplishment were not apparent, its achievement was 
discreetly deferred, though always kept in view. His intellect 
was ever employed in weighing probability and possibility, in 
shaping one set of conditions to fit some other set of condi- 
tions apparently remote; and in the intermingling of mau}^ unre- 
lated processes he frequentl}' found the pos.sibility of successfully 
working out cherished hopes. His was an active, tenacious 
intellect, con.stantly engaged in storing up resource from which 
he miirht draw in the furtherance of his vigilant activities. 



Address of Mr. Piatt, of New York 119 

Mr. Quay's last election to membership of this body is not so 
remote an event as to have passed from our recollections. We 
who comprehend the intricacies of such contests, who recognize 
their complexities and the degree of finesse requisite in attain- 
ing success in such an undertaking, can not fail to discover in 
Mr. Quay a political analyst of the first rank. One instance 
tending to illustrate his original genius as a political general 
as well as his ability as an organizer came under my personal 
observation at the time he, as chairman of the Republican 
national committee, conducted the campaign for the election of 
a Republican President in 1888. With his headquarters in the 
city of New York, he was brought into immediate contact 
with the methods and operations of Tammany Hall. So prac- 
tical a politician was he that we who were in direct charge 
of the campaign in that State were not only saved the loss of 
energy so frequently incurred in combating academic methods 
in conducting national campaigns, but were able to readily 
convince him of the necessity of meeting desperate opposition 
with forceful means. At that time the machinery of the mu- 
nicipal government in New York City was completely in the 
hands of adherents of Tammany Hall, who were by no means 
scrupulous in their exercise of power. Mr. Quay, under the 
guise of acquiring data for the compilation of a new city direct- 
ory, in the operation of which his name and personality were 
wholly concealed, secured possession not only of the voting 
lists of the city of New York, but, as had long been suspected, 
the information that Tammany had thousands of fraudulent 
names registered for use on election day. At the proper time, 
to Tammany Hall Mr. Quay sent this message: 

I have the names of the bona fide voters of every election district in 
New York. If any fraud is attempted on election day, we are not only 
in position to detect it, but we will see to it that the guilty go to prison. 



I20 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Confusion reigned in the ranks of his enemies, who became 
forthwith thoroughly demorahzed and disheartened. The result 
was that the Democratic majority in New York City that year 
was kept at a low point, and the State of New York, whose 
electoral vote was necessary to elect a President, was secured 
to the candidate whose cause he so fearlessly and intelligently 
espoused. 

Turning to other things, he possessed great political and 
personal chivalry, not only toward friends, but enemies as well. 
He was true to his friendships whenever it was possible, and 
yet he was always making peace and taking into his fold any 
possible recruits either from a new field or from the camp of 
old enmities. 

Those who knew Mr. Quay more intimately than I tell us 
he was an omnivorous reader; that he reveled in classical 
literature; that he was never so happy as when in his library, 
surrounded by the books he loved. Those of us who engage 
in practical politics and are ever distracted by the activities of 
business and political life realize the need of the regeneration 
of vital faculty that can never be better attained than in com- 
munion with the best thought of the ages. I fancy much of 
the superb self-possession and poise that distinguished Mr. 
Quay's life came through some such mediumship as this. 

Mr. President, when we hold up to critical inspection a 
character exhibiting the qualities of which I have spoken — 
qualities of courage, versatility, resourcefulness, strong feeling, 
high thinking, and the ability to make and retain friend- 
ships — we have performed a service to mankind, since their 
contemplation carries inspiration and bespeaks emulation in 
the minds and hearts of men. 



Address of Mr. Knox., of Pennsylvania 121 



Address of Mr. Knox, of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. President: I am informed that the custom of the 
Senate permits, and my indination surely impels me, before 
moving an adjournment of the Senate as an additional mark 
of respect for the distinguished dead, to add a brief word of 
eulogy ,. which I will limit to the relations in which I knew 
Senator Quay and in which I ktiew him well. 

We have listened with profound interest and gratification 
to Senators who have feelingly and eloquently described and 
illustrated the manly qualities, the striking characteristics, 
the dominant political tone, and the public services of the 
remarkable man to whose memory this service is devoted. 

Senators have spoken from personal knowledge and that 
peculiar affection between men which comes from long serv- 
ice in the affairs and trials of public life. 

I knew Senator Quay for a shorter period and less inti- 
mately on that side. His gifts as a born leader of men; his 
eminent services to the nation, the State of Pennsylvania, 
and his party; his mastership of the art of statecraft and 
political finesse; and his magnificent strategy and courage, 
which on more than one occasion turned threatened defeat 
into victory in struggles of great national consequence, need 
no further tribute from me. 

Though Senator Quay at times conspicuously suffered from 
that intolerable thing which it seems the public ser\'ant must 
endure — intentional misunderstanding and persistent misrep- 
resentation — his just fame is now beyond the reach of the 
cheap detraction which assailed his life but can not obscure 
his real career and character. 



122 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

Matthew Stanley Quay came of that strong Scotch- 
Irish stock which constituted one-third of the population of 
our countr}' at the time of the Revolution, which has added 
so much to the greatness of this nation, and which in Penn- 
sylvania grew and throve along the hills of the Cumberland 
Valley and beyond to the Mouongahela and Ohio. 

His youth was passed in the atmosphere and inheritance of 
those intellectual and moral ideas his race has drawn from 
the capable brains and patient and courageous hearts of their 
fathers. Conscientiousness, independence, and resistance to 
aggression made them what they were and brought them 
across the sea to the new opportunities of a new world. Out 
of such evolution came the wit and the resourcefulness, the 
steady mind, and the strong, composed heart of the leader 
which were characteristics of Mr. Quay. He was kindly and 
affectionate, tender in his domestic relations; loyal and help- 
ful to his friends, cherishing and valuing them always; and 
most genial in his quiet way. Grateful for a service, he was 
prompt to reciprocate. He volunteered helpfulness without 
ostentation; his heart and conscience alike expressed a large 
charitableness, and under a cool exterior his sympathies were 
quickly and deeply moved. His days were full of "little 
nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love." 

Like all men possessing leadership, he was a fighter, and 
he fought a fight to the end; but when it was over, it was 
over in all ways. He was not vindictive; one of his most 
notable characteristics was his magnanimity. Throughout the 
many political hostilities of his State career close personal 
friendships involved in them survived almost untouched, and, 
if at all impaired, were finally and fully reestablished. 

Senator Quay was known to his friends and intimates as a 
man of the most extensive acquaintance with the literature 



Address of Mr. Know of Pennsylvania 123 

of his language and of large acquirements in the knowledge 
of books. The classic literature of England, the great bocks of 
history, the biographies of renowned men were all familiar 
to him. 

He was versed in Egyptology, had studied profoundly all 
that pertains to that great domain of learning, and was a 
student of that delightful branch of literature devoted to the 
mythology of the Norsemen. In history he was deeply read, 
and it was his custom after an arduous day to take up the 
ancient histories of Greece and Rome and quiet his mind and 
prepare himself for rest by conversing with the great charac- 
ters of the past. 

To a fine classical education, acquired in his youth by ear- 
nest study, he had added in the long years of reading and 
research a mass of knowledge that made him an accurate 
scholar. 

His taste for politics, his con.stant association with men of 
affairs, kept him keenly interested in all tho.se things that make 
life interesting and kept him from becoming in any sense a 
recluse. His knowledge of the world — of the business and men 
of the world — so modified his wide and profound acquisitions 
from books that he was broad, scholarly, tolerant, and com- 
panionable. 

It was delightful to sit with him wdien he was inclined to 
converse on some great book or .some great branch of literature, 
and to li.sten to his perspicuous judgment of topics and their 
treatment. 

Senator Quay loved his home, his family, his friends, his 
books, and nature. No man ever really knew him who did 
not know him in relation to those things he valued most. 

It was in this way of personal acquaintance and i)rivatc 
friendship that I knew vSenator Quay V)est and 1m- • 



124 ^?/^ ^'^^ Character of Matthew S. Quay 

valued this relation to him and, like so many other men in and 
out of his own State, realized the attractive combination in his 
character of the elements of manly courage and warmth of 
heart. 

In my last conversation with him, but a few days prior to 
his death, he manifested by detaining look and gesture the 
yearning for human sympathy and companionship to which I 
have referred ; and yet, in speaking of his rapidly approaching - 
death, he harked back to the wild in his wish that he could go 
to the Maine woods and die, like an old gray wolf, upon a 
lonely rock. This was neither hopelessness nor defiance; it 
was simply the instinct of a brave man to meet his fate in the 
open and face to face ; to confront death knowingly and with 
courageous equanimity. 

Mr. President, I offer the following resolution, which I 
desire to have read at the desk. 

The Presiding Officer. The Senator from Pennsylvania 
offers a resolution, which will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolution, as follows: 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the deceased the Senate 
do now adjourn. 

The resolution was unanimously agreed to; and (at 5 o'clock 

and 5 minutes p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Monday, 

February 20, 1905, at 12 o'clock meridian. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 

December 5, 1904. 
message from the senate. 

A message from the Senate, by Mr. Parkinson, its reading 
clerk, announced that the Senate had passed the following 
resolutions: 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow and deep 
regret of the death of Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, late a Senator 
from the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these resolutions 
to the House of Representatives. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the two 
Senators whose deaths have just been announced the Senate do now 
adjourn. 

DEATH OF SENATOR QUAY. 

Mr. Bingham. Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolution, 
which I send to the Clerk's desk. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow of the death 
of Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay, a Senator of the United States from 
the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memories of the late 
Senators Quay and Hoar the House do now adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate 
and transmit a copy thereof to the families of the deceased Senators. 

The resolution was agreed to; and accordingly (at 12 o'clock 
and 52 minutes) the House adjourned imtil to-morrow at 12 

o'clock noon. 

12=; 



126 Life and Character of MattJieiv S. Quay 

January 27, 1905. 
memorial services, matthew stanley quay. 

Mr. AdA]ms, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that Sunday, February 19, at noon, be set aside for 
memorial services in honor of Matthew Stanley Quay, late 
a Senator from the State of Pennsylvania. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Pennsylvania asks 
unanimous consent that Sunday, the 19th of February, at 
noon, be set aside for memorial services in honor of Matthew 
Stanley Quay, late a Senator from the State of Pennsylvania. 
Is there objection? 

There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 



MeDiorial Addresses 127 



Memorial addresses. 

Sunday, February ip, ^905. 

The House was called to order at 12 o'clock noon by 
William J. Browning, Chief Clerk, who announced that the 
Speaker had designated the Hon. John Dalzell as Speaker 
pro tempore for this day. 

Mr. Dalzell took the chair as Speaker pro tempore. 

The Chaplain, Rev. Henry N. Couden, D. D., offered the 
following prayer: 

We bless Thee, Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, for 
this great Republic of ours, with its phenomenal growth, its 
magnificent achievements which challenge the admiration of 
the world. And we are reminded that under Thee the 
greatness of any nation depends upon the greatness of its 
people, and that in turn upon the opportunities afforded by 
the nation to the individual for the unfolding and development 
of the elements which constitute greatness. We thank Thee, 
therefore, for an open Bible, the free school, the freedom of 
the press and speech, and the freedom of worshiping Thee, 
O God, according to the dictates of conscience. 

And we are reminded of that long line of illustrious men 
and patriots who conceived our nation and who have shaped its 
policies and made possible its destiny, and we are here to-day 
to measure the greatness of one of our nation's .soldiers, 
scholars, and statesmen, who, by his great foresight, energ}^ 
and perseverance, filled to the full measure every position 
imposed upon him by his countrymen. Long may his memory 
live, and longer yet his deeds inspire those who shall come 



128 Life and Character of Matthezv S. Quay 

after him with true uobiHty of soul, high ideals, and lofty 
purposes. 

Grant, O God, our Heavenly Father, that these ceremonies 
held from time to time may be of such importance that all 
the Members and their families shall gather here, a tribute to 
the memory of those who have wrought and labored for the 
upbuilding of our nation and the support of its principles. 
Thus, O Heavenly Father, may we all pay a just tribute to 
our great men. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

The Clerk began to read the Journal of the proceedings 
of yesterday. 

Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I move that the 
further reading of the Journal be dispen.sed with. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Peun- 
S3dvania asks unanimous consent that the further reading of 
the Journal be dispensed with. Is there objection? [After 
a pause.] The Chair hears none, and without objection the 
Journal will be considered as approved. 

There was no objection. 

THE LATE SENATOR MATTHEW S. QUAY. 

Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, before proceed- 
ing, I ask unanimous consent that leave to print remarks 
relating to these ceremonies be granted to Members of the 
House for twenty da3^s. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The gentleman from Penn- 
sylvania asks unanimous consent that leave to print remarks 
relating to the ceremonies upon the late Senator Quay be 
granted for twenty days. Is there objection? 

There was no objection. 

Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania. Mr. vSpeaker, I oflfer the fol- 
lowing resolutions, which I send to the Clerk's desk. 



Memorial Addresses 129 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That in pursuance of the special order hereinbefore adopted, 
the House proceed to pay tribute to the memory of Hon. Matthkw 
Stani,ey Quay, late a Senator from the State of Pennsylvania. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a faithful and dis- 
tinguished public servant, the House, at the conclusion of the memorial 
proceedings of this day, shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be, and is hereby, instructed to send a copy 
of these resolutions to the family of the deceased. 

S. Doc. 202, 5S-3 9 



130 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Adams^ of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: In rising to pay tribute to the man under 
whom 1 have served for twenty-two years, relying so largely 
on his judgment and his patriotism, I find it a moment of deep 
feeling on my part, fraught with the duties of this occasion. 
Matthew Stanley Quay was born in Dillsburg, York 
County, September 30, 1833. He was of Scotch-Irish ances- 
tors, who settled in Chester County in 17 15. His father 
was a Presbyterian clergyman, who settled in Beaver in 1840. 
He graduated from Washington and Jefferson College, Canons- 
burg, before he was 17 years of age, after which he traveled, 
taught school, and lectured. He studied law, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1854. Governor Pollock appointed him prothono- 
tary of Beaver County in 1855, and he was elected to this office 
in 1856 and 1859. 

We will remember that it was at this time that the coun- 
try began to be agitated on the great questions which led 
to the civil war, and before the breaking out of that Sena- 
tor Quay, moved by that spirit of patriotism which seems 
to have actuated his whole life, whether in civil or militar>' 
affairs, joined what was known as the "Pennsylvania 
Reserves," receiving his commission as a lieutenant. He 
thereafter became the private secretary of the great war 
governor of Pennsylvania, who will go down in the history 
of our State as contributing as much, if not more, to the 
preservation of the Union than any other, ranking with those 
great war governors that have become so celebrated in the 
annals of our history. Not satisfied with remaining at home, 
when the call for troops came he was appointed colonel of 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania 131 

the One hundred and thirty-fourth Pennsylvania \'ohniteers. 
After active service he was seized witli typhcjid fever, and 
under physician's instructions was obhged to send in liis 
resignation, and there is, perhaps, no act that shows the 
characteristics of this man more strongly than the incident 
which took place at this period of his life. Reluctantly he 
left the front, knowing that our Army was about to advance 
on Fredericksburg. He volunteered as an aid on the staiT 
of General Tyler and participated in the storming of Marye's 
Heights, which was one of the most distingui.shed a.s.saults 
that was made during the civil war. Recognizing his execu- 
tive abilities and the great demand in various ways of our 
noble sons of Pennsylvania who were at the front, the gov- 
ernor appointed him military agent at Washington to look 
after the needs and requirements of those gallant soldiers, 
where he remained until he returned to the State of Penn- 
sylvania and became the military secretary of the Connnon- 
wealth, still serving under Governor Curtin. 

vSurely such a record from the beginning to the close of the 
war in the military service of his country is enough to .satisfy 
the ambition of any man. In 1866 Matthew Stanley Quay 
was elected to the legislature as a member from the Beaver- 
Washington district, and by that his political career began, 
which, for continued holding of power, in spite of vigorous 
political contests, has been unequaled in the annals of our his- 
tory. Of all the men of national importance in political affairs 
none has exercised such ab.solute power in his own State for so 
long a time. In the broader field of national politics he was a 
leader of leaders. His coun.sel was .sought and his judgment 
relied upon to such an extent that, although he had opposed 
the nomination of Benjamin Harrison in the convention, Mr. 
Harrison named him as chairman of the national committee to 



132 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

conduct the campaign; and in spite of all the prestige of Grover 
Cleveland and the more than doubtful outlook at the beginning, 
he caused the laurel of victor}^ to perch on Republican stand- 
ards, and Benjamin Harrison was elected President of the 
United States. In 1885 he was elected State treasurer, and in 
1887 United States Senator. 

Mr. Speaker, it is held that the Senate does not contain men 
of as great ability as those who attained fame there in the 
middle of the last century, and regret is also expressed that 
that bod}' has no parliamentary rule of cloture, so that debate 
can be brought to an end and the issue determined b}^ a vote in 
that bod}-. In this commercial age of ours there are not the 
exciting and interesting questions which existed when the men 
lived who made their reputation in the Senate in defining the 
limitations of the Constitution, and in its inherent powers 
defining or trying to define what were the original intentions 
of the men who framed it. Upon such questions more enthu- 
siasm could be aroused, oratory could have more weight, and 
the passions of men could be more easil}' applied in stirring 
up political turmoil. So, also, later, on the questions of the 
restraint or abolition of slavery the arguments of orators could 
appeal niore strongly to the human passions, and greater repu- 
tations were made by the men who sustained those conflicts 
than by the men who now have to simply debate the questions 
of the material welfare of our country. But, sir, it is none the 
less to the happiness of the people and to the prosperity of the 
Republic that the men who now^ sit in the United States Senate 
have to deal more largely with these economic questions. For- 
tunately in this world of ours the .strife of arms is being 
changed to the strife of commerce, and each question as it 
ari.ses develops the men who are the best able to protect the 
interests of their own countrv. If there is one man who ever 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Pennsvh'ania 133 

sat in the Senate of the United States to whom his own State 
and his country at large is indebted for the preser\'ation of its 
commercial prosperity, I name him as Matthew Stanley 
Quay, and in connection with the two criticisms which I have 
just cited as relating to the United States Senate. Represent- 
ing Pennsylvania — which has been developed, as we all know, 
on the economic principle of protection — when the Wilson 
tariff bill was brought into Congress (the political complexion 
of the country having changed), the very lifeblood of the State 
which he represented being at stake, the welfare of the entire 
country, in Senator Quay's judgment, rested on the preserva- 
tion of a tariff sufficient to protect her industries and products. 
An historical scene took place in the United States Senate. 
Senator Quay was there protecting the interests of Pennsyl- 
vania. He said he would exercise the parliamentary privilege 
which existed in that body, and he would talk until doomsday 
before he would allow the industries of this country to be ruined. 
When Senator Jones, the leader of the Democratic party, in- 
quired of him how long he could talk, he said he had material 
under his desk for forty days and preparations making to oc- 
cupj' one hundred more, if necessary. Then, with that his- 
torical knowledge which he possessed to such a great extent, 
he made that clever turn, in which, when Senator Jones asked 
him his ultimatum — it was a curious fact that the woolen 
schedule ran from 40 to 54 per cent — and he, remembering the 
dispute between this country and Great Britain on the boundary 
line between the United States and Canada, on which issue the 
Tyler and Harrison Presidential campaign was fought, and the 
Qxy which went out throughout the land, remembering that cry 
and applying it to the woolen schedule, he said, " My ultimatum 
is ' fifty-four forty or fight.' " 



134 ^?/^' ^'^^ Character of Matthew S. Quay 

The political life of Senator Quay has been a storm}- one. 
But few men in public life have been more bitterly assailed or 
maligned than he was, even to the point of criminal prosecution 
in the courts. With twenty-two years of service under his 
leadership, enjoying his friendship and confidence, I say with- 
out hesitation or reserve, he was fair in all his intercourse with 
others, and, the sacredness with which he kept his promised 
pledge was often the cause of some of his greatest difficulties in 
politics; but that faith unbroken with his followers often proved 
the tower of his strength that saved him from defeat. 

His political methods have been criticised; but, like the great 
general that he was, he left no stone unturned to win success, 
and did not always halt at the means employed. But those 
who enjoyed the privilege of seeing Senator Quay in his home 
are those best able to judge the man as he really w-as. Kind 
in disposition, a devoted husband, and an indulgent father, 
I have never seen w'here the family relations and ties were 
stronger than in the home of Senator Quay. But a.scend from 
the family dra\ving-room to his library and there you saw- the 
man at his best. He was in his element; it w^as from the 
books that he learned that wisdom, knowledge of history, and 
that experience for which other men w^ere in the habit of going 
to him when seeking advice; and they had learned to rely on 
his judgment to such an extent because he rarely ever erred 
when it was sought. But we who heard what was said in the 
Senate Chamber on yesterday know how highly he stood in 
the estimation of the country. In^ all the affairs of the nation 
and all political campaigns his counsel was sought and his 
judgment relied upon. 

Senator Quay as a man was one of the most faithful men I 
ever met. His friendship and confidence once gained, it took 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Pennsylvania 135 

the strongest evidence of cause for distrust and even of guilt 
to lose. His word once pledged was as inviolable as it was 
possible for word to be kept. 

As a political leader in Pennsylvania his method was always 
toward reconciliation. He was known in that State from one 
end to the other. His judgment was relied on, and he could 
do more to reconcile the differences than any one man among 
the leaders of that great State. 

Another characteristic of Senator Quay which is not often 
seen in public affairs was that after the contest was over his 
disposition was such that he never bore any resentment, but 
was always ready to talk over the differences that had existed. 

We have heard a great deal more said outside of the State 
than in it about ' ' bossism ' ' in Pennsylvania politics. It is 
but another term, Mr. Speaker, for leadership. I can only 
speak of my own experience, which I think will refute any 
such charge against Senator Quay. 

In the twenty-two years that I have ser^-ed under his leader- 
ship never but twice did he ask me to follow him in a 
matter of great importance. And the circumstances were such 
on those two occasions that I could not do it, and simply told 
him why. One of them, you will all recollect, was when the 
Senate and House differed on the question of the Cuban policy. 
I happened to be acting as chairman of the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs. He called upon me to have my influence 
brought upon the House to agree with the Senate. I stated 
frankly to him that, holding the executive position of chairman 
of the committee, all I could do was to represent the views 
of the House. He at once saw the force of the statement, 
and acquiesced. And I can say historically that in the long 
time I have served in this Hou.se that was the only time the 
House had its own way against the Senate; but of course that 



136 Life and Character of Mattheiv S. Quay 

was reenforced by the power and influence which President 
McKinley brought to bear on the question. 

Mr. Speaker, a great man has gone from among us, and 
history will place Matthew Stanley Quay as one of the 
many able men that Pennsylvania has given to our great 
Republic to aid in its ever-increasing prosperity and increasing 
power among the nations of the earth. 



Address of Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania 137 



Address of Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: I desire on this occasion to join with my col- 
leagues in offering some few words of tribute to the memory of 
one who played no small part in the affairs of our national life, 
and in Pennsylvania for a great many years was recognized as 
its leader of political thought and action. His passing from us 
is too recent to afford the opportunity of forming a just esti- 
mate of his value either to the State or to the nation. Tho.se 
conditions which arise between the successful and the defeated, 
between the victor and the vanquished, leave their sting, and 
the memory of those contests still rankle and forbid that truer 
and juster estimate which will later be rendered by an impartial 

public. 

That he was a great man, is my calm and deliberate judg- 
ment. I never knew him very well until within the last few 
years, and I must say that the better I knew him the higher 
appreciation I had of him. As has been said by my colleague, 
malice was foreign to his nature. I have seen him in .some of 
his great contests, and even when disappointment and defeat 
were his, if he ever made an unkind remark of a political foe- 
man, I have never heard it. When others were chiding he was 
either silent or had some kindly word in explanation of the 
action of those with whom he disagreed. 

I do not know, Mr. Speaker, whether I will print this in the 
Record, but I was present on two occasions at his house, one 
on the day before the vote was taken in the Senate deciding 
whether, under the appointment of the governor, he was enti- 
tled to take his .seat. In that library besides myself was a dis- 
tinguished Senator, who has passed over to the other side of the 
dark river— one who had been one of the closest, warmest, and 



138 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

most intimate personal friends of Senator Quay, though differ- 
ing with him in poHtical behef. The question was, What 
would be the vote in the Senate, and how would the different 
members of that body line up? 

I kept the tally list and they decided, and going over the list 
carefully upon two different checkings it showed a majority 
for Senator Quay of 2, which excluded the name of the Sen- 
ator who sat with us. The next day the vote was taken, and 
that Senator voted ' ' no. ' ' That Senator who loved Quay as a 
brother felt constrained \yy a sense of public duty stronger than 
friendship. 

I met Senator Quay afterwards and he had no word of bitter- 
ness, but I believed then that he had received a harder blow 
than an}' political foeman had ever given him, and he then 
expressed to me — the first intimation I ever heard from him — 
the determination that with the close of the contest which 
should be a vindication of the unfair aspersions cast upon his 
character, with that reelection he should forever retire from 
public service, and that so far as he was able to control the 
action of those connected with him by ties of kindred, none of 
them should ever engage in public service. I think no disap- 
pointment that ever came to him came as did that one. 

For a year or two after Senator Quay took his seat in the 
Senate the relations between these two men were strained, but 
it was pleasing to the friends of both to notice in the last ses- 
sion these two men sitting together and that the bonds of true 
friend.ship that had been theirs through all the years of their 
.service had been reestablished. vSenator Quay could honor the 
one wdio placed duty and fidelity in service of the public as the 
foremost of all human obligations. My opinion is, however, 
that with positions reversed Quay would have stood by the 
friend. 



Address of Mr. Sibley, of Pennsylvania 139 

Perhaps it would not be out of place to recount another inci- 
dent. It may be true; I do not know. It was a fugitive 
statement made .some years since, attributed to Rudyard Kip- 
ling. He .stated that he had been asked when in this country 
by the manager of a magazine in London to write up the great 
American political boss. He inquired who that political bo.ss 
was, and he was told that it was Senator Quay, and that his 
residence was Beaver, Pa. He took the train, went to Beaver, 
was directed to the home of Senator Quay, and walked up to 
the residence. He saw a gentleman sitting on the jMazza 
engaged in reading. He inquired for Senator Quay and was 
told that it was Senator Quay before him. They engaged in 
conversation and commenced commenting upon the l)ook which 
Senator Quay was reading, which drifted from that book and 
that author to other books and other authors. 

Time slipped away rapidly until a pleasant-faced lady came 
out and announced tea, at which he received a very cordial 
invitation to join. He went into tea with them and after- 
wards was shown into a library such as he supposed was in 
but few homes of private citizens. As he went around 
among the books and got to discussing them with Senator 
Quay, he became so interested that he did not notice the 
flight of time until he heard the clock chime 11. 

He made his apologies, took his departure, but before doing 
so asked if he might have the privilege of again calling on 
the foUowdng day, having in mind the accomplishment of the 
errand on which he had come. 

Upon the following day he called and they again drifted 
into questions of literature, until the pleasant-faced lady 
again came out and announced tea. Then, recognizing that 
his opportunity had escaped, he excused him.self to the 



140 Life ami Character of JMattJicw S. Quay 

hostess, made his apologies, and l^ade the Senator orood-by. 

He went to the station and telegraphed the manager: 

I have been unable to locate the political boss, but if you desire an 
article upon America's foremost literary critic, I can furnish you with the 
copy. 

That Quay was a great student and linguist would be to 
the average man who reads the American newspapers and 
forms his opinion of the political boss something of a 
surprise, but I have never known or had the pleasure of 
associating with any individual who had a richer or riper 
knowledge of the great masters of thought through all the 
ages than that possessed by Senator Quay. 

If there was in my mind a fugitive couplet or verse, the 
author of which I could not recall; if there was the saying 
of some great master thinker and I could not place the 
author, there were two men in Washington to whom I would 
go. One was Senator Quay; and the other Mr. Spofford, of 
the Congressional Library. They were the two men who 
could tell you the author and where you would find the 
verse or the paragraph which you had in your mind. 

We are here to offer our tokens of esteem and to express 
the hope that even now in our memory of him we shall ren- 
der tliat fair and impartial judgment which will yet be 
accorded to him as his just deserts. He may have had his 
human errors, his weaknesses, his frailties, for they are inci- 
dent to our frame; but he had an offset for each frailty one 
grand and prominent virtue. If his political methods at times 
may have seemed arbitrary, there was a kindliness of spirit and 
an absence of malice in him, with a judgment and conception 
for the human weal, which led him to assume his position. 
If he had weaknesses, what man has not? But against that 
weakness stands his devotion to friends and his love of truth 
which made his promise as sacred as oath or bond. 



Address of Mr. Siblcy\ of Pennsylvania 141 

Mr. Speaker, I hope that it may be mine and the gift of all 
of us to be able to exercise that same broad charity, that kindly 
impulse, which was manifested by him in all his public services 
at the other end of this Capitol, a charity and a sense of justice 
which crossed the central aisle of the Senate Chamber and made 
all men his friends, true, loyal, and generous, and compelled 
respect. In a great body like that at the other end of the Capi- 
tol, or in a great body like this at this end of the Capitol, the 
Members accord to each man in the long run aljout that place 
which he deserves. 

The general average of estimate will not be manifestly un- 
just, and it has been given to few men in public life to com- 
mand so universally the confidence, the friendship, and the 
respect that was accorded to Senator Quay by the men with 
whom he served. Others here and elsewhere ha\-e paid elo- 
quent tribute to his memory and have recounted his public 
service. It is enough for me to say that his was a busy life — a 
life spent in the arena of public affairs. His sword was seldom 
in its scabbard. His blows were many and the names of the 
vanquished legion. So far as I know he never struck unfairly. 
Blow upon blow, stroke upon stroke he received in return, but 
neither wince nor moan came from him. 

When I knew him best his personal battles were about over, 
and he was sage and philosopher rather than warrior, but that 
the memory of blows given and blows received remained is 
indicated and the charitable judgment of all men invoked 
in the request which to me seems so pathetic, that the simple 
stone which marks his last earthly resting place should bear 
the words " Implora pacem " (pray for peace). 

Peace to his ashes, peace to his soul, honor for his memory, 
and gratitude for such services to his State and nation as make 
for the peace and happiness of mankind. 



142 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Orao. 

Mr. Speaker: I come here with no word of prepared eulog3\ 
However, I beg to present a few thoughts upon the topic of the 
hfe and character of Senator Quay. I did not know him per- 
sonally and intimately, as others who have spoken did. I 
knew him mainh' as the public knew him. I think in large 
part I may say I knew him in his private and more intimate 
character as the newspapers knew him — that is, I did not know 
him at all. To use a modern expression, he was always on the 
firing line of poHtical battle; and the term "boss," which is so 
grossly misapplied in the discussion of American politics, from 
the standpoint in which it is usually used, would apply to him 
preeminently. But when you come to analyze what it takes 
to make a boss, when you study the men who have risen to 
that position in the newspaper estimation, you generally find 
a man of fine discernment of political questions, having a great 
knowledge of human character, and a profound believer in 
organization. 

A few days ago I listened with much interest to eulogies pro- 
nounced here upon a woman, Tvliss Willard. who has been 
accorded the great honor of having placed in the marble room 
of this Capitol a statue in commemoration of her, and strong 
terms of eulogy were pronounced upon her because of her great 
organizing power. 

Had Miss Willard been a man and had she conducted polit- 
ical campaigns for the election of men to office and for the con- 
trol of States and legislatures and Congres.ses she would have 
been denominated by the press of the country a "bo.ss," and 
offensive things would have been said about her as well as eulo- 
gi.stic things. The true test apparently in the public mind 
or in the minds of the men who write and talk upon these 



Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio 143 

topics is this: Was this individual my friend, and were he and 
I together in the contest? If so, the verdict is, he was a great 
organizer, a man who led public sentiment; but if he was on 
the other side, and led campaigns that defeated the writer or 
speaker, he at once sank to the ignoble character of "boss." 

Now, if you will study the use of this term "boss" in 
American politics you will find that when the person using it 
is speaking about his friend or some one whom he admires he 
always speaks of that one as an "organizer," with great 
power of organization; but when they do not happen to be 
those, or they should happen to be individuals who have 
received some disastrous check of some ambition that they 
may have had, they fly very readily and profusely to the use 
of the word "boss," and "bad boss," and all the prefixes to 
"boss" that they can command. 

Quay was an organizer. He understood the full power and 
force of organization. There is, Mr. Speaker, no more just 
criticism of the man who organizes public sentiment and leads 
it out upon the battlefield of mind and discu.s.sion, of political 
and scientific or religious action, than there is to criticise the 
general of the army who forms the detail of organization, in 
the drill and preparation of a company or squad, and carries 
the troops fonvard to the division, to the army corps, and to 
the army. 

I am going to tell one or two anecdotes about Mr. Quay and 
make some reference to the episode to which the distinguished 
gentleman from Penn.sylvania [Mr. vSibley] has referred, and 
one of these circumstances, I believe, has never been made 
public. I do not know that I shall print it in the Record. I 
will see how it looks w^hen sent to me in manu.script. I thought 
of it only ju.st now for the first time in years, when I heard 
such interesting language used by the gentleman to whom I 
have referred about the unswerving friendship of Quay; how 



144 ^{/^ '^^^^ Character of Matthew S. Qiiay 

when he gave his word he never permitted it to fail. My 
anecdote is in illustration of that characteristic. In the winter 
of 1895, in December, the national committee met in the city 
of Washington to fix the time and place and other incidental 
features of the nominating convention of 1896. The friends 
of McKinle}^ were not confident of his nomination, and they 
met here in Washington in an atmosphere that was very far 
from being suggestive of his success. 

The opponents of McKinley were in full force in the corps of 
correspondents of the great newspapers, and as late as the mid- 
dle of January, 1896, there were not found a half dozen news- 
paper men in Washington who did not confidently predict the 
nomination of another. The importance of a btireau or head- 
quarters here in the city of Washington was recognized by 
everyone, and after a considerable discussion it was ^letermined 
to open a sort of headquarters here, 'which was done, and they 
were maintained to the end of the contest. Then, after a good 
deal of discussion, in which Senator Hanna participated, of 
course, it was decided to request Senator Quay to take com- 
mand of the entire battle for the nomination of McKinley, so 
far as it was to be made from Washington. Nothing had been 
known publicly up to that time as to his position. After a 
ver}'' full discussion of the men of the cotuitry who had been 
prominent in political contests it was unanimously decided that 
there was no man in the country who could take up and 
develop the campaign of McKinley and organize the forces and 
achieve probable victory as w^ell as Quay. Two men were 
delegated to see him and talk the matter over. They met him 
in his library, which gentlemen have de.scribed, in this city — 
not the one in Beaver — and made known their wishes. He lis- 
tened attentively, and he did not ask any questions about the 
probabilities or what the plans were. That struck our friends 
somewhat curiously. Why, when a question of so much 



Address of Mr. Grosvenor, of Ohio 145 

importance as that was submitted to him aud his leadership was 
requested, did he uot ask the ordinary questions: "What are 
your chances? What are you doing? What do you propose 
to do? Where do you propose to look for strength in the 
contest ? ' ' 

On the one side was McKinley; on the other side' powerful 
men, we understood, were in the field. He made just this 
answer: Said he. "I am very fond of McKinley" — I do not 
know the exact words — "but I can not settle this question 
to-night. I must see another man and talk this matter over 
with him." And he fixed an hour two days later, when the 
same gentlemen called on him again, and he said: "I had 
great hopes when you were here the other night that I could 
accept the position which you offered me, but I had so far com- 
mitted myself to the fortunes of another gentleman, not a 
candidate for President, but who will take an active part in op- 
position to McKinley, that I can not, without disappointment to 
him and refusal to carry out what I had given him encourage- 
ment to believe I would do, take the position. Now," he said, 
' ' I am very much obliged to you for the offer you have made. 
Then he .said, with a kind of twinkle in his eye, "You have 
noticed, probably, I do not know any more about your cam- 
paign than I did when you came to me." I con.sider that a 
very complimentary and commendable feature of the politician. 
Everybody knows how earnestly and faithfully he fought the 
battle and how cordially and earnestly and intelligently he fell 
in line in support of McKinley after his nomination. 

It will be remembered that in compliment to Senator Quay, 
compliment only in the sense that it was universally believed 
to be impossible to nominate him, his State gave to Quay at 
St. Louis its vote. He had discovered long before the conven- 
tion that the inevitable fiat of the party in this country involved 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 10 



146 Life and Character of Mattheiu S. Quay 

the nomination of William McKinley, and the time server, the 
selfish man, would have valued much higher the position that 
he might have secured in the estimation of the victorious col- 
umn if he had come over to the McKinley forces than to have 
stayed out to the end, receiving a mere complimentary vote. 
But that would not have been Quay. He had committed him- 
self to the support and assistance of the gentleman to whom I 
have made reference without naming him, and he stayed to the 
last and went down in defeat rather than abandon the men with 
whom he had been associated. 

It was significant that when Ohio was reached in the St. 
Louis convention and cast her vote for McKinley, it gave to 
that gentleman the nomination, and instantly, almost as if by 
magic, there were circulated throughout the entire convention 
beautiful buttons on which was the legend, "Pennsylvania will 
be foremost for McKinley in November. ' ' 

Now, about the episode described by the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania. If I do not find that I am absolutely right about 
my recollection I shall not print what I am going to tell, but I 
think I am not mistaken. There was a collision between two 
great men, two men who had each for the other the highest 
regard, and they had a difficulty between them, a disagreement, 
that was bitter in its fruits. I never thought any the less of 
either one of them because of it. Mr. Quay had voted upon 
the identical question in a former contest in the Senate — identi- 
cal in every fact, every feature, every legal proposition; and 
without any advocacy, without any speech or explanation, he 
had voted against the seating of a Senator under precisely the 
same terms as surrounded him later on; and .strangely enough, 
and to my mind sometimes almost sadly enough, Senator 
Hanna had voted on the other .side of that question in the 
Oregon case. But the battle was fought out in the Quay case. 



Address of Mr. Grosvoior^ of 0/iio 147 

and it was fought out with the great power of the great men 
of the Senate. 

And I may say here, as I go along, and I think I am justified 
in saying that the vote on the Quay case settled the law of the 
United States Senate on that question probably for all time. 

We have at this time the possibility of two opportunities, if 
you please, for the same question to come, and if you listen to 
the public conversations, the discussions in the newspapers, you 
will find that the Quay case is pointed to as making it impos- 
sible that in either one of the two cases to which I have indi- 
rectly referred there can be au}" appointment by the governor 
if the legislature fail to elect. 

Knowing Senator Hanna as well as I did, and knowing Sen- 
ator Quay somewhat, I feel like saying here and now that 
Senator Quay' in the Oregon case voted conscientiously, for he 
voted against the prevailing candidate and the wish of his 
party; and I know that in the vote of Senator Hanna — which, 
by the way, was not a vote, but a pair, which was the same 
thing in effect — he voted just as he believed his oath compelled 
him to vote. He said, and he said it more than once, that no 
act of his life gave him greater pain than that vote gave him. 

Now they are both dead, and I accord to both of them, upon 
a question of so much personal interest, the conviction that 
each voted against his own personal feeling; and, second, that 
he voted conscientiously because he beliex'ed that he was com- 
pelled to do .so. While this has not been the public estimation, 
I ma}' as well admit it here. 

I hope that if I should ever be eulogized in this Hou.se or 
anywhere el.se the worst things that can be said about me that 
are true may be stated then and frankly, for I would not give 
much for the glos.sing over of all the characteristics of a man, 
which may justly challenge criticism. That is not what 



148 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

eulogies are made for. I prefer that very early after I am 
dead the worst things that can be said about me that are true 
will be said, and not left to some one to discover these evils a 
hundred years after I am dead. I want the worst things to be 
said about me in the start, when there will be some sympathy 
for me and not cold criticism; and when there are still living 
contemporaries to analyze the statements. 

I believe that Senator Quay was one of the most uncom- 
promising, never-ceasing leaders of politics that I ever knew, 
and I get my view of him in this respect not from his private 
interviews, but from my observation of him in the greater field 
of his operations. And let it be borne in mind that behind 
him always stood the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 
More than once his enemies marshaled all the forces possible 
to overthrow him, and yet upon every one of these battlefields 
Senator Quay came out a victor. That is my recollection 
about it. 

Can it be possible that a State like Pennsylvania, with the 
glorious history of her past, which dates clear back to the pre- 
constitutional days, all along down through her magnificent 
history, that the people of Pennsylvania would hold up and 
honor and persistently hold up and persistently honor a man 
who was unworthy of their confidence? I do not believe it. 
I believe that the people of Pennsylvania looked through the 
assaults upon Senator Quay and understood their motive. I 
do not mean the differences in political purpose, but I mean the 
exaggerated assaults that were made upon him. and I believe 
that they understood him better than did the great mass of the 
American people. And in doing so I believe they vindicated 
their judgment; and in coming here to-day to do honor to his 
memory I believe we do honor net only to him but to the great 
State that stood by him. 



Address of Mr. Klint% of Peniisylvaiiia 149 



Address of Mr» Kline, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. vSpeaker: I trust it may not be regarded as presumptu- 
ous iu one yet so strange and unfamiliar in this atmosphere 
and these surroundings to add a word of tribute to the memory 
of the distinguished Senator whose death thus brings us to this 
pause and serious contemplation. 

As I listened in rapt attention to the eulogies and feeling 
utterances which were pronounced in the Senate yesterday and 
here to-day, wherein have been portrayed the character and 
public services of the dead Senator and statesman, I have felt it 
were in vain for me to attempt to stipplement and add anything 
to what has been said with such eloquence, splendor of diction, 
and solemnit}' of thought. 

I am not a political kinsman; why should I attempt to ex- 
press that unspeakable sense of bereavement so generally felt 
in his party? Not belonging to the party of his faith, lean 
not depict, like others have done, that deep and sudden shock 
that quivered through the universal heart of his great party 
and stopped the course of thought for a time when on the after- 
noon of the last Saturday in Ma}^ 1904, the electric subtlety 
whispered and announced from his home in IJeaver to every 
part of his State and this country, "Quay is dead." 

When he left Philadelphia for the last time to go to his 
home in Beaver he made a declaration to one of his political 
friends which nuicli impressed me, and may be apropos on this 
occasion. Being asked as to his health, he said: "Yes; I am 
a sick man. I am going home to die; and I have often wished 
that when I die I could find some lonelj^ mountain crag and 
die there, away from the haunts of life. ' ' 



150 Life and Charactei^ of Mattheiv S. Quay 

Well do I remember the da}- when the announcement flashed 
over the wires that Quay had died, when one of his friends 
from the southwestern part of this country, interested in south- 
western statehood, rushed out of the telegraph office in this 
city and declared, with emotion and tears in his eyes, "Quay, 
the best friend I had in this world, has passed to the other 

side. ' ' 

While I may say I knew him, that acquaintanceship was 
not intimate, but rather from afar; and therefore I do not have 
the power, such as others possess, to set before you his charm- 
ing social qualities, the diversity of his powers, his cherished 
loyalty and unfading friendships; his genial, manly nature, 
his tender refinement of sentiment as those can and do who 
from long and close intimacy and political associations have 
been lured and bound within the close meshes of such influ- 
ences and relations. But I am sure that my loyal and patri- 
otic constituency, many of whom were numbered among his 
trusted and devoted friends, would not have me remain silent 
at this time when opportunity was accorded me to join in the 
recognition which the House to-day pays to the memory of 
the late Senator. 

Although a political opponent, I appear to-day, as the dead 
Senator said in his memorial address on the life of the late 
Samuel J. Randall, "to cast the myrtle on his grave, not as 
a close associate or friend, but as a Representative of the 
great State he served so long and loved so well, bearing to 
his memory what is its due." 

A large majority, Mr. Speaker, of my Congressional district 
differed from him upon many of the leading political issues 
which agitated the country and his State during his pubhc 
career. But they always recognized and honored the excep- 
tional abilities which won him distinguished advancement in 



Address of Mi'. Klinc\ of PeJinsylvania 151 

the councils of the State and nation, and also and especially 
the undoubted consistency of his political life, and the excel- 
lencies, loyalty to friends and worth, which gave him such a 
remarkably strong hold upon the supporters of his party in 
his State. 

As a public servant Senator Quay was an honor to his 
party, to his State, and to the nation. His public life l^egan 
in 1856, when he was elected prothonotary of Beaver County, 
and extended almost without interruption until death — a 
period of almost forty-eight 3'ears. 

Within the short margin of four years, 1 861 -1865, he ran 
the remarkable gamut of lieutenant, major, chief of- transpor- 
tation and telegraphs, lieutenant-colonel, assistant commissary- 
general, military secretary to the governor of Pennsylvania, 
State military agent at Washington, and colonel of the One 
hundred and thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

He seemed to be born to a ceaseless activity and to be gifted 
with a power not only to do many things, but to do many things 
well. Whether as legislator, secretary of the Commonwealth, 
recorder of the city of Philadelphia, or chairman of the Repub- 
lican State committee of Pennsylvania he was alert, vigorous, 
aggressive, and nothing seemed too hard for him to do and 
nothing found him unprepared. 

It was in the State relations that he laid the foundation for 
his remarkable power of organization, which introduced him to 
national affairs, and made for him those friends who were 
bound to him by hooks of steel, and who followed him loyall}- 
through numerous phases of political fortune to its victorious 
end. 

He entered national affairs in 1872 as a delegate to the 
Republican national convention, and was sent again in 1876 
and 1880. In 1885 he was elected treasurer of Pennsylvania, 



152 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

and was sent to the United States Senate in 1887 and again in 
1893. In 1888 he was elected a member of the national com- 
mittee of his party, and was immediately made its chairman 
and ex officio chairman of its executive committee. It was 
in this place that his commanding ability as an organizer 
came to be recognized by the whole country. What seemed a 
hopeless case and campaign was, by his shrewd and vigorous 
efforts, turned into a great success _ and victory. He again 
represented Pennsylvania in the national conventions of 1892, 
1896, and 1900. In the deadlock of 1899 he was defeated for 
reelection to the Senate. Nothing daunted, he appealed to the 
State convention of his party and was sustained. The legisla- 
ture of I go I ratified the action of the convention, and he 
entered upon the third term of his Senatorial career, the term 
which marked his demise and exit forever from the political 
arena. 

He stands in America as one of the most persecuted men of 
his time. Writers who were personallj- well acquainted with 
him have said that his enemies even went so far as to say, "If 
we can not kill Quay politically, we can kill him physically, 
by persecution." 

He did more than any single man in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania to make that State solidly and overwhelmingly Repub- 
lican. By training, by achievement, b}' inherent force, by 
eminence of natural ability and character, and by a remarkable 
knowledge of men. Senator Quay was always equipped for his 
work, and always ready to advance it to a successful issue. 
Few men of America have shown greater activity, and still 
fewer have had their efforts crowned with such significant 
succCvSS. Tireless, fearless, indomitable, and resourceful, he 
won renown, and died in harness in the midst of the almost 



Address of Mr. Kline, of Pennsylvania 153 

ceaseless exertious that had marked his course for nearly half a 
century. 

It is hard, in a career so versatile as this, to seize upon the 
most signal characteristics of the man and pass them in rapid 
review. 

He was not eloquent in speech, nor a great orator, nor did 
he make any claims as a public speaker; he was, however, 
well-read, a great thinker; and fond of the classics and choice 
literature. 

That he was a partisan can not be denied; he gloried in the 
prowess of the Republican party and his most masterful blows 
were delivered for its success and unparalleled victories in Penn- 
sylvania. He had decided views upon every question which 
came before him, whether as a soldier, legislator, politician, or 
Senator. He was acquainted with all the great men of the 
nation, and was a strong factor to be reckoned with in the set- 
tlement of every grave question. He was essentially master of 
his own mind; he did his own thinking; he was .slow to reach a 
final decision, but when a course of action had been determined 
upon by him that course became absolute and unalterable. 

The Democratic party recognized him as an able and shrewd 
antagoni.st. He was one who enjoyed the confidence of the 
substantial and corporate interests of the country. He was an 
ardent protectionist. He had an uncompromising faith in a 
protective tariff; he believed in the protection of American in- 
dustries, and that the prosperity of the country could be most 
successfully and universally subserved and maintained by and 
through a protective tariff, and he took advantage of every 
opportunity to spread this doctrine. The principles of the 
Republican party were to him sacred, and he clung to them 
through all the contests as tenaciously as the mariner clings to 
the last plank when the night and tempest close around him. 



154 Z.?/^ and Character of Alattheiv S. Quay 

It can not be denied but that he had the warmest of friends; 
and bitterest of enemies, as well. In his numerous political con- 
tests he was misrepresented, vilified, and abused with great fre- 
quency. When reviled he reviled not again. He heeded not 
the assaults of his antagonists. He was blind to the cartoon 
and deaf to defamation, devoting all his thought and all his 
energies to win success. He lived down the libels, slanders, 
slurs, and vituperation which for many years during his political 
career had been hurled at and heaped upon him. He was one 
who after^years of faithful struggle and astute management 
got the better of his libelers. ' 

His enemies and those who differed with him in politics mu.st 
admit that he was the most successful politician in the era in 
which he lived. His party in Pennsylvania was for many years 
obedient to his dictation and acted only upon his command. 
To-day friend and foe honor his memory; partisan politics are 
hushed, as with bowed head, and all feel that the world is better 
for his having lived in it. 

Although naturally kind, his lack of demonstrativeness in a 
crowd set a seal of coldness upon his demeanor and placed a bar 
between him and the hasty friendships of an hour. In a crowd 
he was silent, reserved, and seemingly self-contained, but when 
one had his friendship, when one had gained a place in his es- 
teem, as we are informed, he became an entirely different man. 
Among his friends he was open, frank, and unrestrained. He 
believed in their integrity, and when they were assailed he not 
only took the assault to himself, but put forth his supremest 
efforts in their behalf. But high over his party fealty and high 
over his loyalty to his friends must be placed his loyalty to 
himself, his supreme regard for the absolute inviolability of his 
word. His tact enabled him to know the limitation of his own 
power; his talent led him to use that power for his party's weal 



Address of Mr. Klim\ of Pennsylvania 155 

and, as he believed, for his country's good. ' The tact to know 
his power fully and the talent to use power were happily blended 
in the deceased. In the use of power, we are told, he was 
always slow to promise, but when that pronii.se was given it 
became the highest law of his being. His word to an opponent 
was always equal to a bond; it was gilt-edged and was never 
protested. Men relied upon it with unfaltering trust, becau.se 
he always made it good. He never promised what he could not 
perform, and he did not promise that which he did not do. 

He survived the attacks and assaults of his enemies. If it 
be true that virtue survives the grave, then the.se virtues of our 
departed Senator will stand the shock of time and form an inter- 
esting page for good through ages yet to come. With sadne.ss 
his friends gathered but a few short months ago to pay tribute 
to the friend they loved. Quay is gone, but his memory will 
continue to live. The activity was gone, though the form 
remained. The clay was on the bier, but the soul which gave 
it poAver had passed beyond. 

It is ever so. "The air is full of farewells to the dying and 
mournings for the dead." The .soul of Matthew Stanley 
Quay has changed its residence. It lingers in the vast realm 
of the eternal, where we, who honor him to-day, must shortly 
wend our way. 



156 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Brown, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker : I have prepared no eulog}^ upon the late 
Senator Quay-, but I rise to speak as a member of the Pennsyl- 
vania delegation and particularly as representing the great 
county of Allegheny, where Mr. Quay counted his friends, 
acquaintances, and political followers by the thousands. He 
was a man who stood high in that community as a friend of the 
workingman and the business man, a man who did much to 
build up the Republican principles which have made our great 
county famous throughout the world. The late Senator Quay 
was not only a scholar, but he was a man who had a very deep 
insight into the character of men. He was acquainted with the 
influences which could bring men to do what another man 
wanted. A man of immense depth and grasp of mind, of im- 
mense mental vigor, and being of undoubted and unquestioned 
courage, is it a wonder that he entered into the political field, 
the great arena that afforded him opportunity for the exercise 
of the powers with which he was gifted by profession, by educa- 
tion, and by the times in which he was born? 

Attaining manhood at a time when this nation was in the 
throes of a death struggle with a part of its own self ; at a 
time when every man was a politician, when no man looked 
in silence on the questions which were before the country, is 
it a wonder that the late Senator Quay became a politician? It 
is not probable that he could have helped it. Is it a wonder, 
gifted with the powers that he had, that he became the power 
in the State of Pennsylvania and the power in the nation that 
he did? I regret, indeed, that I can not speak of him intimately, 
because my acquaintance with him was but j^assing, though it 



Address of Mr. Broivn, of Pcnnsylrania 157 

covered many years. He was a neighbor of mine in the cit\- 
and county of Beaver, and there he was met and reverenced b}- 
his associates and his neighbors. 

No greater tribute can be paid to a man than h\ his own 
neighbors. If a man stands well with his own people, you 
may be .sure he has qualities that make him of the be.st in 
the land. The distinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. 
Grosvenor] alluded to Senator Quay as having behind him 
the State of Pennsylvania. That is true, Mr. Speaker. He 
did have the State of Pennsylvania behind him, but we nuist 
remember that he helped to make the State of Pennsylvania 
what it is — the stalwart Republican State of this countrw 
Under his guidance it was built up until it was a power in 
national politics, and he himself had been its great leader. 

It was not alone that Senator Quay could appeal to tho.se 
who were in influence. It was not alone that he could speak 
to those who were in power, but a large amount of his influence 
in the State of Pennsylvania was derived from the power he 
had over the common people, and I have been assured by 
tho.se who were in the deepest political fights in which he 
participated and fought for his own political life that it was 
his appeal to the common people — to the workingmen, to the 
farmers of Pennsylvania — that brought him victories from 
those conflicts. 

Mr. Speaker, as part of the great county of Allegheny, as 
one of the citizens of the State of Pennsylvania, as one 
of his neighbors, I rise to-day to add the trii)Ute of myself 
and those whom I believe I represent to the memor>- of a 
statesman. 



158 Life and CJiaracter of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr, GouLDENt of New York, 

Mr. Speaker: As a comrade of the late lamented Matthew 
Stanley Quay I should feel lacking in those principles of 
fraternity that characterize the men who served their country 
in the days of 1861 to 1865 if I did not say a few words in 
his memory on this occasion. As a soldier he was known 
for his zeal and devotion to the cause of the Union. His 
bravery in action w^as never questioned. He was an ideal 
officer, strict in discipline, faithful in the discharge of his 
duties, and considerate of his men, who loved him. 

As a statesman he stood in the front rank of those whose 
names are inscribed in the history of our country. 

For more than a third of a centurj^ he was the leading 
figure in the great State of Pennsylvania. Few men in the 
life of the Republic have given so much to the growth and 
prosperity of their State and the nation as did Matthew 
Stanley Quay. 

He was not merely successful as a political manager of a 
great party, but was recognized as a leader in the United 
States Senate and as one of the chief as well as safe advis- 
ers in the administration of the National Government. His 
patriotism and devotion to his coiuitry were never questioned. 

As his neighbor for sixteen years, residing, as I did, in 
Pittsburg, it was my good fortune to see nuich of Senator 
Quay. It was my privilege, tnisolicited on his part, to do him 
a favor twenty years ago which he never forgot. 

In the change of administration caused by the election of 
that patriot, Robert E. Pattison, as governor of Pennsylvania, 
I was appointed one of the managers of the State reformatory 



Address of Mr. Gonldcn., of Nciv York 1 59 

in the western part of that Commonwealth. The suiK-rintend- 
ent of that institution, a large and important one, was the 
brother of Senator Quay. Notwithstanding that the board of 
managers was Democratic, the brother, an efficient officer of 
long standing, was retained during our four 3-ears of control. 

As a man, Matthew Stanley Quay stood the highest. 
His word was the equivalent of other men's bonds. 

It was a common expression throughout Pennsylvania for 
many years that Senator Quay never forgot a friend nor a 
favor done. 

To attain and retain the thousands of warm, intimate friends, 
regardless of political affiliation, as Senator Quay did for 
nearly half a century, he must have possessed in an eminent 
degree those qualifications that tend to make up the true man. 

As a native of the grand old Commonwealth, proud of its 
achievements; as his comrade, equally proud of his military 
record as a volunteer soldier of the Republic, and as his neigh- 
bor, I pay this brief tribute of respect to his memory. 



i6o Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Smith, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: It is with pleasure I embrace this opportunity 
to add my humble tribute to the memory' of Senator Quay. 
Every phase of his character and every item that contributed to 
his greatness as a public servant or his amiable qualities as a 
man have been sufficiently dwelt upon by others in both ends 
of the Capitol. I shall therefore conhne m3'self principally to 
his extraordinary prowess as a political leader. In this par- 
ticular I believe he has never had a peer in this country, and 
that he was the most resourceful and altogether masterful 
political general that America has thus far produced. For 
nearh' a generation he was as supreme in Peiuisylvania as it is 
possible for one man to be in a great Commonwealth. His 
intluence and power were the result not only of the sterling 
qualities of manhood v/hich he possessed, but a thorough 
comprehension of political and social conditions and of an 
intimate acquaintance with men. His genius for political 
management was largely the genius of labor. He knew every 
man in every town and township in the State who took an 
interest in political affairs, and could measure accuratel}' his 
value as an ally or his strength as an opponent. This 
knowledge was the result of prodigious pains and infinite 
application to detail. From his library at Beaver he could 
direct a political campaign as intelligently and effectively as 
though he were present in every community. His complete 
and sy.stematic methods and his familiarity with every phase of 
the contest rendered him practically ubiquitous. 

But vSenator Qu.w's power in politics, like that of Napoleon's 
in war. was the result of an idea. That idea, materialized by 



Address of Mr. S)>iif/i^ of PoDisylz'ania i6i 

genius, made Napoleon the greatest soldier of all time. The 
application of the same idea to politics b}' a great and energetic 
mind made Matthew Stanley Quay invincible. 

Napoleon, during his first campaign in Italy, narrowly 
escaped being taken prisoner. This suggested to him the 
value of a personal guard of picked men, upon whose \-alor 
and devotion he might always rely. That idea was the germ 
from which grew the Imperial Guard, the most magnificent 
fighting machine of ancient or modern times. Immediately 
upon assuming the office of First Consul, Napoleon began the 
organization of his guard, which was to be an ideal regiment, 
culled with care from the flower of the chivalry of France. 
The qualifications of a candidate for the guard were that he 
should be able to read and write, that he must have made at 
least four campaigns, obtained rewards for deeds of valor or 
noble conduct, or been wounded. Above all, he must have 
maintained an irreproachable character. He gave his personal 
attention to the discipline and training of these soldiers, looked 
after their comfort and their conduct, shared their hardships, 
wept with them, and rejoiced with them. 

This body of soldiers, augmented and perfected, became 
the famous Imperial Guard, which conquered Europe and 
enshrined its creator in the most brilliant halo of glory that 
ever encircled the brow of man. It never recoiled before a 
human foe, and with the single exception of Waterloo never 
failed to retrieve the most desperate situation. Even on that 
fatal day it was true to its tradition, "The Old Guard dies — 
it never surrenders." When the Eagles of the Old Guard 
were seen advancing through the smoke of battle the result 
was no longer in doubt. 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 II 



1 62 Life and Character of JMatthezu S. Quay 

The force it possessed over others — 
Says the Historian Headle}- — 

was as much moral as physical. Beaten troops rallied at its approach, 
despair gave way to confidence, and the cry of terror was changed into 
the shovit of victory. The enemy, on the other hand, when they saw the 
deep and massive columns of the Guard approach, were already half 
beaten. The prestige of victory that went with the Eagles paralyzed their 
arms, and they struggled against hope. So perfect was their discipline 
that their tread was unlike that of other regiments, while the conscious- 
ness of their power gave a grandeur to their movements no other body of 
troops in the world has ever possessed. Napoleon loved them devotedly 
and called them his children. And well did they deserve his love. For 
him the}" knew no weariness or pain, and for his welfare they would move 
steadily on to death. 

Whether or not Senator Quay got his idea of a pohtical 
organization from Napoleon, certain it was that he worked 
on that same plan in Pennsylvania, and the results were 
analogous. The mo.st influential, loyal, and uncompromising 
Republicans and the most sticcessful party workers were won 
over to his standard l^y the magnetism of his personality 
and served him with a loyalty and devotion quite as un- 
swerving as the Old Guard of Napoleon served their general 
and Emperor. When a political contest was to be won, all 
Senator Quay needed to do was to give the word and there 
were no questions asked. It was enough that "the Old 
Man," as he was affectionately styled by his adherents, 
wished it so. 

It was said of the Old Guard of Napoleon that it never 
made a charge that did not give an impulse to liberty: that 
every time it l:)roke the ranks of the despots of Europe it 
wrenched a fetter from the human mind; that its heav}- foot- 
steps sounded the death knell of tyranny in all Europe, and 
that its iron columns shattered feudalism into a thousand 
fragments. Of vSenator Quay's political organization in Penn- 



Address of Mr. SniitJi, of Petnisylvania 163 

sylvania it may be said that it always stood a "column of 
granite" for the principles of the Republican party. It 
never charged the enemy unless to rescue its general from 
beneath the hoofs of malice and detraction that it did not 
lessen the burdens of the people, take a long step in the di- 
rection of progress, or put to rout the enemies of protec- 
tion. Fierce factional strife was often engendered, when all 
the batteries of vilification were let loose and all aimed at 
their leader, but they never faltered in their allegiance. 
Only a man of extraordinary qualities of head and heart 
could have retained his adherents under such circumstances. 
Senator Quay won men to him by acts of kindness; by his 
gentle, modest, unassuming manners; by the Avarmth of his 
sympathies and the unerring wisdom of his counsels. He 
held them by a religious adherence to his promi.ses and by 
the exhibition of a lively sense of gratitude for services ren- 
dered. During his numerous contests for political supremacy 
in Pennsylvania he had many opportunities to test the loyalt>- 
of his friends, and in no instance did they fail him. The 
devotion of Senator Quay's followers was the greatest .source 
of his satisfaction and pride. He joyed in their good for- 
tunes, and at their sorrows bowed his head in grief. To 
illustrate: During the memorable struggle of the Quay and 
anti-QuAY factions for supremacy in 1S99, when practically all 
of the leading State officials, a large majority of the daily 
newspapers, the Republican organizations of Philadelphia and 
Pittsburg, and many of his former allies in the rural districts 
had deserted him, and Senator Quay was fighting for political 
life, he was conducting his campaign for State chairman at 
his headquarters in Philadelphia. He was sitting at a table 
one day surrounded by a number of his faithful friends and 



1 64 ■ Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

coworkers, when a messenger entered and laid a package of 
letters before him. He had been exerting every energy and 
drawing upon every resource of his power in what appeared 
to be a desperate, almost hopeless contest. 

Every one of his old guard had been called upon to aid in 
the struggle, and Senator Quay had written many appeals for 
succor with his own hand. When these letters were laid 
before him he opened and read the first one, and his eyes 
were immediately flooded with tears. One of his friends who 
sat near, noticing his agitation, and thinking the letter con- 
tained some unwelcome news from home, askec if there was 
anything serious the matter. Senator Quay attempted to 
reply, but choked with emotion and walked hastily into an 
adjoining room in order to conceal his perturbation. His 
friend picked up the letter, which had been left lying on the 
table, in order to ascertain what it was that had .so wrought 
upon the Senator's feelings. It was in the handwriting of a 
girl, and .simply said: "Dear Mr. Quay: Father is dead, but 
mother and the boys are for you." 

The devotion of Napoleon to his Old Guard w^as never more 
beautifully illustrated than that. 

Senator Quay's genius for political organization was also 
utilized to good effect in national politics, and on several notable 
occasions proved to be of vast importance to the Republican 
party. But the "Silent man of Beaver" possessed greater 
qualities than a genius for political organization and leadership. 
He was a gallant soldier during the civil war, having risen to 
the rank of colonel. "He was a scholar, and a ripe and good 
one." It would have been difficult to find a man anywhere 
whose familiarity with the classics and whose knowledge of 
history, ancient and modern, were greater than his. He was 



Address of Mr. Snn'//i^ of Pciuisylvania 165 

the possessor of one of the finest private lil)raries in Pennsyl- 
vania, and it was his special delight to Ije alone with his books, 
to commune with the great souls of other centuries. He was a 
statesman, but in this regard " his praise is hynuied by loftier 
harps than mine." He was not only admired, but loved, Ijy 
the greatest of his colleagues in the Senate. The late Senator 
Vest, of Missouri, said of him: "Of all the public men with 
whom it was my pleasure to associate in W'a.shington, I admired 
Senator Quay most and loved him best." Other great men of 
that body were equally devoted to him, and the present occupant 
of the White House was his sincere friend. The admiration 
was reciprocal, for Senator Quay regarded President Roosevelt 
as the ablest, most courageous, and altogether wholesome man 
of affairs of this generation. 

Senator Quay was not an orator in the commonly accepted 
meaning of the word. He did not aiTect the graces of declama- 
tion. He preferred deeds to words. Men speak but little 
when vanity does not induce them to speak, and as vain men 
are generally shallow, and shallowness is alwa^'S nois}-, loquacity 
is oftener an evidence of littleness than of greatness. Senator 
Quay spoke onh- when he had a message to deliver, and then 
always in behalf of others — never for mere ostentation or vain- 
glory. But he was the master of a clear and forceful literary 
st^de, and wdien it became necessary to make himself heard he 
expressed himself in language that was classic in its purity, 
pregnant with thought, and bristling with logic and power. 

Senator Quay was a lover of nature. He loved the moun- 
tains, the woods, the ocean, the flowing rivers, and the rippling 
brooks. He was kind, genial, companionable, sympathetic. 
Distre.ss never appealed to him in vain. To the voice of sor- 
row he gave a willing ear, and took up the burdens of others as 



1 66 Life and Character of Alatthcic S. Quay 

cheerfully as if the_v were his own. He loved his friends and 
forgave a contrite enemy with cordial magnanimity. In spite 
of misrepresentation and detraction, born of rivalry and the 
rancor of faction, it ma}- yet be truthfully affirmed that of all 
the great characters that have impressed their individualities 
upon the imperial Commonwealth of Pennsylvania none will be 
cherished with a more ardent and enduring affection b}' its 
people than Matthew Stanley Quay. 



Address of Mr. Rodcy., of Neiv Mexico 167 



Address of Mr, Rodey, of New Mexico. 

Mr. Speaker: At the loss of those who disinterestedl>- 
befriended us we necessarily feel the deepest sorrow; of such 
friends we believe not the slanders of enemies; we heed not 
the prejudiced pratings of jealous rivals. In feeling the touch 
of his kindly aid to myself and his great help to the people and 
the cause I have had the honor of representing in this House 
and before this Congress is the measure of my acciuaintance 
with and knowledge of the great man to whose memory we 
here to-day pay deserved tribute. Through parties who then 
were our mutual friends, the great man was induced to take an 
interest in my efforts to bring New Mexico into the Union as 
a State in the Fifty-seventh Congress. The battle he waged 
attracted the attention of the nation, and, though unsuccessful, 
has gone into history as the greatest parliamentary contention 
of modern times in these United States. 

After the omnibus statehood bill for the admission to the 
Union as States of the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico, and 
Oklahoma had passed this House in the latter part of the long 
session of the Fifty-seventh Congress and went to the Senate, 
Senator Quay took charge of it there. After nuich .sparring 
and diplomatic parliamentary contention he finally permitted it 
to go over to the short session, but with the proviso that it was 
to be reported from the committee at an early day of the session 
and should thereafter be the "unfinished business." 

Thereafter, during the succeeding fall, a subcommittee of the 
Committee on Territories of the United States Senate visited 
the Territories and made an adverse report as to their admission 
singly. This report has gone into history as a grave injustice 



i68 Life and Characlcr of MattJiczv S. Quay 

to those jurisdictions. But since that time many of us have 
come to regard with nuich less aversion the arguments made in 
that report for a consohdation of New Mexico and Arizona. 
The great battle came on earl}^ in the short session following, 
and continued without abatement during the three months of 
its duration until the bill was finalh- "talked to death," as the 
session expired by limitation on jNIarch 4, 1903, at noon. Nat- 
urally the friends of the Territories, including myself, were 
downcast at the result, but, undaunted, we prepared to renew 
the great fight at the succeeding session. 

The Congressional Record of the two sessions of the Fifty- 
seventh Congress contains an inniiense mass of unjust and 
slanderous debate against New Mexico and Arizona, which, 
I venture to saj^, will, in time to come, as those Territories 
fulfill their destinies, prove as unwarranted as the statements 
in former times made b}' Daniel Webster about California. 
In the fore part of June, 1902, Senator Quay, when endeav- 
oring to pass the original "omnibus statehood bill," made a 
speech that is now embalmed in everlasting print in the 
Record, in which is set forth the rights of the Territories 
and the platform promises made in their behalf, and set forth 
the names of many Senators and men then in high official 
life who were members of the national con\-entions that 
adopted those platforms. This speech is, indeed, interesting 
reading. For it, and as a token of thanks and appreciation 
of his great efforts in our behalf, the county of Quay adorns 
the map of New Mexico to-day, and our legislature and con- 
ventions adopted unanimous resolutions in his un.stinted prai.se. 

During the statehood fight in the second half of the Fifty- 
seventh Congress I had great opportunity to study Senator 
Quay, both as a statesman and as a man. He was always 
a great puzzle to me. The Delegates from the Territories 



Address of Mr. Rodcy, of New Mexico 169 

and their friends submitted to his unquestioned leadership in 
all things. Thej' soon learned to have the fullest confidence 
in all his acts. He sent for us when he wanted us, and we 
obeyed him like soldiers under a general. When we reported 
the results of interviews to him, his statement was, "Tell 
me what he said," evidently relying more on his own knowl- 
edge of men than upon the exuberant views and conclu- 
sions of inexperienced Delegates. He could do more and say 
less about it than any man I ever saw, and yet he spoke 
as often as was necessary, but ever>- sentence was full of 
wisdom and was invariably in furtherance of a plan. I 
never knew his equal in causing all details to be attended 
to. The night before the great "test vote," which was in- 
tended bv its opponents to displace the .statehood bill in that 
short session, was indeed a strenuous one. Myself and others 
reported at his residence, where he sat up to receive us, 
hour after hour, notwithstanding the great storm that pre- 
vailed, until nearly 3 o'clock in the morning, at which time 
the position of every Senator was known and e\-ery vote that 
could be was paired. 

The result next day was a victory for Quay and the Terri- 
tories, and silenced the contention that the statehoodites were 
obstructionists, for they showed a clear constitutional majority 
of 12 votes in favor of the pending omnibus bill, which would 
insure its passage could a vote be had. This test forced the 
opponents of the Territories, who were in the minority, to con- 
tinue the debate to the end of the session, in order to defeat 
the bill. At the close of that Congress Senator Qu.w sent for 
me, and the question of joint statehood was for the first time 
broached. During the following summer and fall the question 
was agitated considerably in the press of the Territories, and in 
New Mexico received a very considerable support, which has 



170 Life and Character of Mattheiv S. Quay 

ever since grown until to-day quite a large per cent of our peo- 
ple would, if tliey could, select joint statehood with Arizona as a 
first choice. However, the Territories determined to fight for 
what they then conceived to be their inherent rights — separate 
statehood — as long as there was any chance for it, and to that 
end at once, on the convening of the Fifty-eighth Congress, 
introduced their separate bills. The battle waged for months 
before the House committee, and finalh', when the Republican 
majority of that committee resolved that it would report no bill 
save one to make two States out of the four Territories, to 
include Indian Territory, Oklahoma and New Mexico acqui- 
esced, and the joint statehood bill of the present session was the 
result. It was submitted to a party caucus of this House and 
passed under a rule brought in for the purpose on April 19, 
1904. Much to my anxiety, during the summer and fall of 1903 
and winter of 1903-4, the health of Senator Quay had been per- 
ceptibly failing. He had been away during nearly all of the 
earh' sunnner of 1903 in Maine, and in the early months of 1904 
at Atlantic City and in Florida, trying to benefit his health. So 
solicitous did I feel that in the summer of 1903 I took a trip 
out to his home at Beaver, Pa., to see him. During the early 
spring of 1904 I called almost daily at his residence to ascer- 
tain his condition, which was not a.ssuring. Finally, when, in 
May, 1904, he departed from Washington to his home in 
Beaver, I knew that he was never to return. 

Though not by name, I notice that Representative Kline has 
referred to me in these eulogies and to the sorrow I felt on 
receiving the wire news of the great man's demise. What Mr. 
Kline has said is true. Senator Matthew Stanley Quay 
was the best friend of all the Territories, and his loss to those 
jurisdictions is irreparable. His loss was more than this. It 
was a great personal loss to me. If he had lived, certain 



Address of Mr. Rodcy, of New Mexico 171 

political events which have since occurred in New Mexico 
could never have taken place— for he was my friend. I real- 
ized, though indistinctly at the time, as I stood in the rain 
over the great man's grave where we buried his remains last 
summer in Beaver, Pa., that from the body in the casket we 
lowered into the grave had gone out the life that was my 
political protection. The consequences have since come to 

pass. 

A letter I received from Senator Quay, written to me from 
Atlantic City, X. J., in the latter part of April, 1904, and 
while he was in what proved to be his last illness, showed me 
that he was no lover of joint statehood, but considered it a 
compromise. I wish I had the letter at hand to insert here, 
but I have not. Another Congress is about to close without 
justice being done to the Territories. How long will this 
great battle continue? Will the next Congress settle it? 
Will time bring into the Union what Quay predicted— four 
additional States— or three, or only two? Time alone can tell. 
There are those in the Territories now who believe that per- 
haps ' ' Arizona the great ' ' would be better for us than 
"Arizona the little." Let the votes of the people decide. 

Senator Quay had, it is said, proud Indian blood in his 
veins, and his stolid, sphinxlike, uncomplaining demeanor 
tended to prove it. I doff my hat to those citizens who have 
proud Indian blood in their veins— they are a notch higher in 
real Americanism than the rest of us. He was the Indians' 
best friend. No measure involving their rights passed the 
Senate in recent years without it first received his approval. 
Many a time during the great statehood fight in the Fifty- 
seventh Congress when I called at his residence here in Wash- 
ington did I find his waiting room filled with Indians. They 
came to see him from all tribes and all parts of the nation. 



172 Life and Character of Matthezv S. Quay 

He knew the history of all the Indian nations and tribes. He 
defended their rights on all occasions. When he learned that 
I knew somewhat of our Indians in New Mexico, he kept nie 
many an evening at his home telling of them and hearing, as 
scantily as I knew it, of their customs and folklore. He was 
a great man, a general in politics, a lover of nature, a good 
friend, and a kind and loving husband and father, for I saw 
enough of him to know this, but even more for me. he was my 
friend and a friend to the great people I have the honor of 
representing here. For these things we loved him and .sin- 
cerely mourn his untimely taking off. 



Address of Mr. Hull, of hnva 173 



Address of Mr. Hull, of Iowa. 

Mr. Speaker: My acquaintance with the late Senator from 
Pennsylvania was more general than personal, but no one con- 
versant with public affairs can fail to be impressed with the 
commanding influence wielded by Matthew Staxlev Qi'AY 
for the last quarter of a century in management of State poli- 
tics that commanded the unwavering support of his friends, and 
as a Senator of the United States he commanded the respect of 
his associates. 

Xo matter what storms of opposition beat against him, he 
presented a firm front and emerged from each contest strong 
in the affection of his people and in the confidence of all who 
knew him. 

A man of strong convictions, he had the courage to advocate 
them at all times and under all circumstances: a man of firm 
friendships, no one ever accused him of betraying a friend. 

With only a general knowledge of his character, I will say 
that one secret of his great success was his unfaltering devo- 
tion to his friends and his unswerving conviction as to his duty 
on all public questions. 

No man of his rugged characteristics ever failed to make 
enemies, but he lived to triumph over all opposition and laid 
down the scepter of power at the close of a long and useful 
life with every foe vanquished and every charge affecting him 
refuted. 

The great State he in part represented gave him unfaltering 
support. No ordinary man could have conmianded this. His 



174 ^{/^' '^^^(^ CJiaractcr of Matthezv S. Quay 

record in Pennsylvania is secure from further assaults. His 
work as a Senator and as a great leader of partisan politics will 
be more than highh' appreciated as the years go by. Scholarly, 
sagacious, courageous, he lived his life so as to leave to his 
State, his nation, and his family the splendid heritage of a great 
name. 



Address of Mr. Morrell, of Pennsylvania 175 



Address of Mr. Morrelu of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: The morning- of June i saw assembled in the 
various hotels of Pittsburg men distinguished in every walk 
of life. Every train arriving the day previous had brought its 
quota, all with grave faces and with sadness in their hearts. 
At an early hour these men boarded special trains for the town 
of Beaver. The rain which had threatened in the early morn- 
ing now came down steadih". When Beaver was reached all 
disembarked from the trains and made their way to the Presbx - 
terian Church. The business of the town was at a standstill; 
great crowds lined the streets and blocked the doors of the 
church, hoping, if possible, to obtain an entrance after those 
specially invited had been .seated. There was not one among 
that multitude of people but what in deportment gave evidence 
of sincere grief and of a desire to pay tribute by his presence 
to the memory of the man who had lived among them so long 
and was soon to be laid in his la.st resting place. 

Those of us who were present remember the services, grand 
and impres.sive in their simplicity, and the fitting tributes which 
were paid to the memor>- of the deoarted by the oflficiating 
clergymen. 

The ser\'ices over, the cortege formed to proceed to the cem- 
etery. The streets from the church to the cemetery, like those 
through which we had already passed, were lined with all sorts 
and conditions of people, all apparently with but one object in 
view, that of paying respect. 

The ceremonies at the grave were, as the deceased would 
have wished, characterized by the same simplicity as those at 
the church. While these were in progress the rain, which had 



176 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

continued to that time, suddenly came down in torrents, and 
peal after peal of thunder followed one after the other, just as 
if a last salute was being fired in honor of one of Pennsylvania's 
bravest sons, one of the State's and nation's ablest counselors, 
while the rain was sj'mbolic of the tears of those who had gone 
before or who, being unable to be present, wept in their hearts 
at home. 

Who, Mr. Speaker, was laid at rest? A man who.se traits of 
character were the kind described by Charles Wagner in his 
Simple Life — courageous, sincere, generous, and .simple in his 
tastes and life. 

Courageous he certainly was, not only in the face of an armed 
foe, as is proved by his war record, but also how often in his 
political career had he not snatched victory out of apparent 
defeat. His courage and tenacity of purpose were equally well 
demonstrated in his championing measures on the floor of the 
Senate, many important bills becoming laws simply through his 
determined .stand. 

His sincerity of character was best demonstrated by his loy- 
alty to his friends and the high estimate which he placed upon 
that characteristic in a man. I am told by those who knew 
him best that it was the man's own fault from whom Air. Quay 
ever withdrew his friendship and confidence after it was once 
placed. Generous he certainly was to a fault. I do not believe 
that anyone ever went to him for anything that he was refused, 
whether it was for pecuniary a.ssistance or for some benefit 
which he could confer. His willingness to forgive those who 
had opposed him in political strife was simply phenomenal; so 
much so that those of, his closest friends would at times fear 
for the results. Yet this willingness to forgive, I am confident, 
won for him hosts and hosts of friends, becau.se it was always 
done in so frank and ample a wa}' as to make the forgiven ones 



Address of Mr. MorrcU, of Pcniisylvania 



II 



ashamed and feel that they must have been mistaken in their 
own judgment. 

His manner of hfe at home, his love of all things which be- 
longed to outdoor life, and his absolute freedom, in spite of his 
recognized ability and learning, from any kind of personal van- 
ity or ostentation are tributes to the simplicity of his character. 

Mr. Quay's political foresight was probably superior to that 
of any man of his time. His reliance in the good sense and 
judgment of the people of the country at large upon a live polit- 
ical question was simply marvelous. This was best demon- 
strated by the fact that in every great crisis in his political 
career he appealed for a verdict to the people of the State of 
Pennsylvania, and seldom, if ever, in vain. 

By ]\Ir. Quay's death many lost a friend. I do not refer so 
much to those who have plenty of friends on account of their 
position or wealth, but to those who on account of their lowl\- 
estate lost in him, if not their only, at least their most powerful 
friend. In this connection I speak from personal knowledge 
of his friendship for the friendless Indians and his powerful and 
unflagging interest in their behalf. Nor was his friendship 
unappreciated by them, for I am sure that long before this has 
the death of their stanch friend at Washington been mourned 
b>- these simple people in the wigwams and at their council 
fires with a sincerity equal to the deepest feelings of those 
who through association were nearer and dearer to him. 
S. Doc. 202, 58-3 12 



1 78 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 



Address of Mr. Babcock, of Wisconsin. 

Mr. Speaker: I am g-lad to be able to add a few words in 
behalf of my late friend, the Hon. Matthew Stanley Quay. 
I knew him well for man}- years. There have been but few 
men activelv engaged in politics whose standard of right was 
so high as his. 

Unfortunately, the critics, the opposition, and many times 
the press, misrepresent those in public life, and their motives 
are misconstrued and placed in a light that the facts would 
not warrant. I have known him to be in many positions 
that tried his .sturdy character to the utmost limit, but when 
his word was once pledged or given, or when he had 
assumed an obligation, it never occurred to his loyal mind 
that it could be broken or that there was any path to follow 
except the one he had indicated. 

A character so loyal to itself and to its friends demands the 
admiration of all. In Senator Quay I lost a personal friend 
whom I loved, the country lost a statesman and patriot, and 
T shall always feel that my acquaintance with him will lie 
one of the dearest memories I can cherish. 



Address of Mr. Bates, of Pennsylvania 179 



Address of Mr. Bates, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: Matthew Stanley Quay died in the midst 
of his labors and his honors and at the time of his greatest 
influence and usefulness in the world. He was a schoolboy at 
Dillsburg, York County, Pa. He graduated from Washing- 
ton and Jefferson College. He was admitted to the bar and 
practiced law. He was prothonotary of Beaver County, and 
elected for two terms. He was a lieutenant in the Tenth 
Pennsylvania Reserves. He was colonel of the One hundred 
and thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Volunteers. He was assistant 
commissary-general. He was military secretary for the State 
of Pennsylvania at Washington. He was private secretary of 
the governor of Pennsylvania. He was chief of transportation 
and telegraph. He was twice elected a member of the legisla- 
ture. He was secretary of the Commonwealth under four 
different administrations. He was recorder of the city of 
Philadelphia. He was chairman of the Republican State com- 
mittee. He was State treasurer of Pennsylvania. He was a 
delegate to several national conventions. He was chairman 
of the Republican national committee. He received the vote 
of Pennsylvania for Presidential nomination in a Republican 
national convention. He was three times elected a Senator 
of the United States. In all these varied positions, both civil 
and military, in which he .served the people of his county, his 
Commonwealth, and the nation at large, he brought to each 
duty an earnest purpo.se, born of a desire to fulfill and accom- 
plish the highest measure of usefulness for those whom he 
represented and so faithfully .ser\-ed. One who has filled, 
and successfully filled, the offices of trust and responsibility 



i8o Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

which I have just recounted must be denominated truly great. 
Especiall}^ is this true when the scenes of activity- and achieve- 
ment are among people of the highest patriotism and most 
conspicuous public and private virtue. Pennsylvania has been 
the scene of his endeavors for nearly half a century. 

So closel}' identified was Senator Quay with almost every 
State administration for the past forty 3'ears, and with such 
alertness did .he lend his aid to every prevailing policy in that 
Connnonwealth during all these years, that to speak truly of 
Senator Quay is to speak of times in which he lived and of the 
history of his native State; for how can the effect of a prevail- 
ing master mind be disassociated from the events and happen- 
ings during the time he served so conspicuously on the public 
stage ? He was a member of the State legislature at Harris- 
burg and chairman of the committee on waj's and means in 
that body when the State tax was absolutely removed from 
real estate in Pennsylvania, never again to be imposed. At the 
beginning of that decade the State debt of Pennsylvania was 
$40,000,000. It was gradually reduced until within the last 
ten 3'ears the vState has been practically out of debt. During 
all these years the State government has been wiselj' and 
economically administered — administered, indeed, with an econ- 
oni}' which, in view of the population, wealth, territory, indus- 
tries, manufactures, mines, oil productions, railroads, and 
canals, seems absolutely marvelous. 

With annual revenues from taxation of about $i5.,3oo,ooo, 
the Commonwealth pays in appropriations to public schools 
$5,500,000, the largest amount paid bj^ an}- State in the Union. 
It i)ays to normal schools and other institutions upward of 
$1,000,000; to charitable institutions about $2,500,000; for the 
invalid in.sane, $1,300,000; for judiciar}^ $700,000; for National 
Guard, $400,000; for county bridges, highways, etc., upward 



Address of Mr. Bates ^ of Pennsylvania i8i 

of $1 ,000,000, and for penal institutions alx)ut $500,000, leav- 
ing only about $2,900,000 to defray the salaries and expenses 
of the officers and employees of the entire Commonwealth, 
including' the legislature and all public works and necessary 
expenditures. The consolidated debt of all the counties, 
nuuiicipalities, and school districts in the State is about $10 
per capita, the smallest of anj- of the more important States, 
if not the smallest of any State in the Union, and during all 
these forty j'ears not a single dollar has been lost to the people 
by an}- defalcation of any public official, and though deposito- 
ries might fail, sufficient sureties have always held the public 
money secure. At the commencement of that decade not onl}- 
land, but horses, cattle, carriages, watches, and professions were 
all taxed for State purposes. 

For years they have been exempt, the public funds of the 
State being derived almost entirel)' from taxes upon corpora- 
tions, which bear these burdens willingly in appreciation of a 
safe and well-ordered and well-disposed Commonwealth. In 
all the public acts and policies which have led to such a satis- 
factory condition of the internal affairs of his native State 
Senator Quay could truly say, "Quorum pars magni fui." 
He was a man not well understood by some and not always 
appreciated at his true value. He was a scholar. He spent 
no happier hours than wdien surrounded b}' his books. He 
could truly say, with Prospero, " My library is dukedom large 
enough for me." He was of a refined and gentle nature. His 
father had been a Presbyterian clergyman, and he ever had 
reverence for sacred things and for religious human instincts. 

On one occasion a bill had been introduced in the legi.slature 
at Harrisburg to legalize pool selling at county and agricultural 
fairs. It had been petitioned for by many farmers' associations, 
wholly with the idea of a.ssisting to maintain the project of 



1 82 Life and Oiaracter of Matthciv S. Quay 

agricultural fairs. When advice was asked of Senator Quay, 
he glanced over the bill and replied: "No; while for a seem- 
ingly worthy object, it may offend the religious and moral 
feelings of our people," and the bill was laid aside. He 
preached a .sermon once; more effective and far-reaching for 
good than many which have been delivered from sacred desks. 
It is related that wdiile the appropriation for the benefit of the 
World's Fair at Chicago was under consideration in the Senate 
a provision was in.serted, by way of kn amendment, to clo.se the 
fair on Sunday, and this amendment was debated pro and con. 
Senator Quay's speech was as follows. He arose and said: 

Mr. President, I desire to send to the Clerk's desk and have read to the 
Senate an extract from an old law book which once belonged to my father. 

And then sent up and had read from an old, well-worn volume 
the following passage, which he had marked: " Remember the 
Sabbath day, to keep it holy." He could truly be called a 
humanitarian. It was this in.stinct within him which led him 
to favor a change in the immigration laws relating to the 
exclusion of the Chinese and to favor the admission of those of 
that race who had embraced the Christian religion or who had 
in any way assisted in the defense of the mis,sionaries and the 
American legation during the Boxer uprising and the terrible 
siege which ensued. In one of the last public speeches he ever 
delivered he u.sed the following words: 

GOLDEN RULE FOR CHIN.\. 

We are deeply interested in the foreign policy of the nation, and all 
seems well in its conduct. The Philippines will soon have a government 
by consent of their people, and within a score of years may develop into 
independence peacefully and under our protection. In China we have but 
to apply the golden rule — treat China as we would have China treat us — 
recognize that despite her savagery the Empress Dowager is the greatest 
woman born in Asia since the birth of Semiramis, and Tuan as the repre- 
sentative of patriotic Chinese thought, and all can be made well there. 



Address of Mr. PaWs, of Pouisylz'auia 1S3 

That nation of 400,000,000 people is present on earth for an Ahnit^htv ])iir- 
pose, and while the great European powers may pencil lines of partition 
for Chinese territory they will never divide the Chinese people. 

Compare with China the IMesopotamian people once inhabiting the land 
of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were created. I-Mrst there 
were the mysterious Sumerians. Who they were and- how they lived and 
when they died no one knoweth. They gave to man the alphabet and 
passed away, leaving no more trace on the earth than the shadow of a 
cloud flitting over its surface. Then came the Chaldeans and Babylonians, 
and Babylon fell. Assyria arose and Assyrians built Nineveh, and 1>oth 
these great cities are only to-day commencing to tell their stories to Ameri- 
can explorers. Four hundred years after the fall of Nineveh, thousands 
of years ago, Xenophon marched his Greeks over the site of that city and 
knew it not. Then came the Chaldeans again, and Persians shone a brief 
period and were extinguished. 

COMPARED WITH JRWI.SH NATION. 

A Chaldean family fortified the rock of Jerusalem and grew into a na- 
tion which was the chosen of God. The visible presence of the Almighty 
illuminated its temples and glinted on the spear point and the shield of 
the Jewish soldier as he marched to battle. That race gave to men their 
greatest soldier, their greatest poet, their greatest lawgiver, and their ]\Ies- 
siah. Where is the Hebrew nation now? 

During all these ages China grew, developed a self-sustaining civilization 
and a resistance to decay such as marked no other nation. When our 
forefathers were clad in the skins of beasts, earning their sustenance in 
the forests by the chase, armed with flint-headed weapons, China had 
Confucius and Astrolgabes and was calculating eclipses. We .should 
re-spect China for what she has been, and .sympathize with her in her trials, 
and look forward with hope to her future and the fulfillment of her mi.ssion. 

I believe the characteristics which I have mentioned were 
natural to the man. But all earthly work nuist end. Human- 
it}^ is a procession. Our words of farewell to a fellow- 
workman should not alone be those of grief that man's 
common lot has come to him, but of pride and joy for all 
the good he has accomplished. Men .so weave them.selves into 
their hour that, for the moment, it seems as though much will 
be interrupted w^heu they depart. "One generation pa.sseth 
away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth 
forever." The progress of the race goes on and we realize 



184 Life and Character of Matthew S. Quay 

in ever}' step more and more its upward teudenc}'. We are 
all agents, great or small, in a mighty purpose. If we and all 
things are not working together for good, if our life is but a 
breath exhaled and then forever lost, our work means little. 

Senator Quay was a man of the broadest sympathies. He 
never exhibited any narrow prejudice or sectional repugnancy 
or vindictiveness toward any part of his country or country- 
men. His attitude in this regard was that of a true American. 
He suffered often from base and intentional misrepresentation, 
and was sometimes attacked by those who owed him fealt}' 
instead; but he pursued the even tenor of his waj^ was never 
vindictive, and his magnanimous traits of character won him 
increasing friendships all his life. When the end came, and 
all earthly aid stood at naught, the people of Pennsylvania 
and of the nation mourned, and expressions of sympathj' were 
poured forth to the sorrowing wife and sons and daughters, 
who bowed at his side before the visitation of Almighty power. 

Mr. Speaker, I move the adoption of the resolutions which 
have been offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. 
Adams] . 

The Speaker pro tempore. The question is on the adop- 
tion of the resolutions offered by the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania. 

The question was taken; and the resolutions were unani- 
mously agreed to. 

The Speaker pro tempore. In pursuance of the resolution, 
the House stands adjourned until to-morrow at 12 o'clock 
noon. 

Accordingly (at i o'clock and 40 minutes p. m. ) the House 
adjourned. 

O 



LBJa'06 



